And Then She Cries
by SimplyUnmistakable
Summary: Hyuuga Hiashi had always been right. Hinata wasn't made to be a leader. And she was happy with where she was. But as they say, power is not for the ones who want it. NaruHina, NejiTen, SasuSaku
1. Now in the past

Lady Hinata was used to being alone by now. Neji knew this. Yet, he took the time to constantly visit her. When coming back from missions, he wouldn't go straight home to his child and wife. He'd come by to check on her, ask how she's doing, then leave with the promise to come visit soon, with Tenten and their son, Noboru, of only one year old.

A month before Noboru's birth, Neji, even though only at the age of 23, believed he'd never get to meet his kid. But life decided to be kinder for this shinobi, even though he almost felt guilty for it.

Lady Hinata would talk kindly about anything she could think of, really talkative for the kind of person she had used to be, she'd always compliment Tenten on how beautiful Noboru was turning, serve them their favourite tea and delicious biscuits, made by her, and listen carefully to any news they had.

"Can you believe they're getting married? Who thought things would turn out like this for Uchiha?" Tenten was excitedly telling, carefully cleaning Noboru's mouth with a handkerchief. The little boy was clumsily trying to eat one of Hinata's biscuits, his little baby-fatty hand barely managing to hold it properly.

_Who thought things would turn out the way they did for anyone, really?_ Hinata thought, memories of the past year coming back to her.

Tenten didn't notice and probably most of people wouldn't, but Neji was immediately aware of the change of thoughts and mood in Hinata. Excusing himself and his family, he told his cousin it was the time for Noboru's nap (indeed, the child was yawning and had half-closed, sleepy eyes).

While exiting, they and Hanabi crossed paths. It was a rather uncomfortable meeting. Neji bowed his head respectfully. Hanabi ignored them all and continued to walk.

"I just hope this one is not going to bother Hinata right now," Tenten muttered under her breath, holding the now sleeping Noboru tighter to her chest. "Walking around, keeping her head high... I will never understand why Hiashi-sama chose her!"

Tenten knew this was a Taboo matter to discuss for the Hyuugas, but her temper made her let out such words sometimes and those sometimes happened any time she'd face Hanabi, in the last year. Neji silently agreed with her wife's outbursts all the time. Still, to the question "Why her?" he'd always only say the following:

"She was made to lead. And that's exactly why she shouldn't be one to lead."

* * *

Not later than an hour, another visitor walked inside the house, also crossing paths with Hyuuga Hanabi. However, this one did not feel the necessity to pay any required respect or to let his mood go bad either. Uzumaki Naruto totally ignored her presence and walked past, without his smile to drop for a single moment. During the last... more than two years he had visited the Hyuuga residence almost as much as the apartment of his two best friends, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Things had changed in the last two, since he was the Hokage and had less free time. He had had to make a compromise, and visit the soon to be Uchihas less.

Why choose the Hyuuga residence over his best friends? He had no idea. But spending time there gave him a feeling that no other place could, not Sasuke and Sakura's apartment, not other friend's house and not in a million years his new, big, comfortable _home_.

How had the habit started anyway? It happened that Hinata had been constantly inviting him over, for tea. She wouldn't say much and constantly blush for no reason.

The first time she invited him, by the unintelligible words and constantly changing colours of her face, he thought she had been trying to tell him she was choking from something she ate and couldn't breathe. So, of course, when, being the hero he usually was, he took her by the waist and held tightly, she fainted. When she woke up and Naruto finally understood she was saying something about tea, he thought she was inviting him over to thank for his help, so he accepted.

Naruto liked company and he also liked Hinata's biscuits. After receiving his compliments for them (and words like 'almost as good as ramen' coming from him were high praise), Hinata kept baking biscuits, so there would always be some when Naruto came by. And soon he started coming by frequently. After a while, Hinata started to take part to Naruto's rambling. At first, it was hard for him to understand anything. But, in time, her speech got better, her stutter disappeared slowly, only reappearing when Naruto would say, as usual, things on his mind to whose effects they could have he was rather oblivious.

"It would be awesome if you'd cook for me every day."

"Hinata-chan, it's so awful when I have to get back home from here. If you'd be there, too, like here, it wouldn't be so lonely."

But that was Naruto. He probably would never even remember the day she had said him she loved him, the day of Pain's attack...

"Konnichiwa, Hinata-chan!" he greeted, walking towards the porch, where Hinata was seated. More biscuits were already on the table. Hinata was pouring tea.

"Konnichiwa, Naruto-kun," she responded, putting the porcelain kettle down to raise her head and give him a welcome smile. He smiled back and took a seat.

"How did the Hyuuga meeting go?" he asked, taking the hot tea carefully in both his scarred hands. Even though he mostly had paperwork now, Hinata knew he trained anytime he had the chance.

She took a sip of her tea before answering, "The usual. That the family is unstable. That the Hokage's decision was not good enough to clear our name - and I'm sorry again this was catalogued as your mistake. It was _my_ decision, not yours. You shouldn't have the other nations on your head because of me."

"Nani? It was _my_ decision to let _you_ decide. I take all the credit. Besides, relations with the other nations are still going extraordinary. Except for... you know. But before alliance comes friendship. An alliance can be broken for anything. Friendships stay through the bad," unusual words of wisdom not many got to hear from the Hokage slipped through Naruto's lips. Hinata, who always paid attention to anything he said, was one of those rare persons who got to hear that side of him mostly. And, every time, she'd get to admire him more - as a leader.

"Hinata-chan?"

"Hai, Naruto-kun?"

He laid against his chair's back, arms crossed behind his head, eyes looking up, in the distance, maybe at the clouds, maybe at a space unknown. Whatever it was, she thought he looked wonderful there, carefree, as the boy she had been used to see him. Responsibilities and worries had brought a trace of severity and dullness upon his eyes, lately.

"Yesterday, I got out of the office really late, so I couldn't come and visit you anymore. Well, but you prbably had your own work to do, anyway. But now I know I was right back then."

"About what?"

"My house is not feeling right to live in for me because you're not there."

* * *

_A year before..._

"Is he ok now, Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked for the seventh time since the first and long waited change in her cousin's state. Neji had been unconscious for almost a month now. In the morning, he had suddenly awakened, his pulse racing, and asked about Hinata and Hanabi. Sakura had tried to reassure him everything was okay, while making big efforts on keeping his heart's state in control. He hadn't believed in anything she had said and asked to see Hinata in person.

Before a month ago, Hinata had used to work in the hospital. She had used to be there most of her time. Had used to... The duties she had now wouldn't allow her to keep doing that.

Neji had fallen back unconscious, but Sakura was now sure there was not long before he'd wake up again. And this time for good. It had been a long month for Hinata and all of the Hyuugas, but things were finally getting back to normal – as normal as things could now be for them.

"You'll soon be able to talk to him, actually," Sakura reassured her.

"Sakura-sama!" a nurse's head popped up through a crack of the door. "Mrs. Hyuuga Tenten – it's time!"

"Or maybe you'll have to stay in line for Neji's attention," Sakura smiled, motioning towards door.

Hinata's face enlightened, taking a seat next to Neji's bed. Sakura wouldn't need her there for Saki/Noboru's birth. Tenten and Neji asked for her to be the godmother months before, and some days ago she had finally decided – Noboru if it was a boy, Saki if it was a girl.

Also, she had many things to talk about with Neji when he'd wake up, but, as Sakura mentioned, she'd better stay in line.


	2. Reflections

A year after the war, things were already falling back together. Yet, there was only a third part of the number of the shinobi that had been before the war left in Konoha, and their schedules were full. The girls, being also medic Nins, would go on missions and get hospital shifts, too, while boys would be heading from an ally to another, helping in discussions concerning the peace times. They were mostly paired father-son, only Neji travelling with Hiashi and Naruto with Sai, going in groups of four. Others were still taking up missions and taking care of the village's security.

While the other two teams got through many arguments and difficulties with the Mizukage and Tsuchikage, Naruto easily got things set with Gaara, the Kazekage, rapped an easy agreement with Killer Bee, the new Raikage, and was back with his team (who barely had to move a finger) before the other two teams.

One more year after, a shinobi with no hitai-ate, wearing the Uchiha symbol on his back, crossed the gates of Konohagure, making a certain Hokage candidate rush over there as soon as the news came to the Hokage tower, where he was waiting for a new solo mission. A much kinder version of the fight that had never taken place happened right there after Naruto enthusiastically knocked Sasuke down just as the raven-haired was trying to make a proud, dignifying entrance.

Afterwards, carrying each other and mumbling insults, they headed to the hospital where, at the sight of them, a pinkette smiled brightly, before noticing they were all bruised and cut. She started to fume, constantly shouting about how immature they still were, while healing them carefully.

* * *

The fact that Sasuke'd been a missing-nin for so long and an Akatsuki member for a short while was repaired by killing Orochimaru and fighting, in the end, for the allied forces in the Fourth Shinobi War, helping in defeating Madara, despite the fact that he abandoned his people again as soon as the fights were over. "I needed to meditate,'' was an accepted reason for his continued absence. The village was too short on shinobi to lose a chance to regain such a strong one. He got back as a shinobi, even though as a Genin. This gained Naruto some good bruises for making a constant laughing stock out of it, as he had already managed to become a Chunin and was heading for his Jounin exam in a month.

The relationship between Sasuke and Sakura was rather reserved, while between Sasuke and Naruto things were just the same, yet totally different. They were constantly sparring, but there wasn't any more a grudge for who's more powerful. It became more about completing the other than surpassing the other.

"Besides, why would I even try to surpass a _freakin' Genin_, teme?" Another bruise...

* * *

In two more years, the rumours had it that Uchiha Sasuke was dating his teammate. Some would laugh at that and actually ask, "Which teammate?" Given the distant way Sasuke and the girl in team Kakashi had been seen acting that far, most of people wouldn't have been more surprised if it was Naruto he dated.

Tsunade was worried about her student, but Kakashi reassured her by the way he cut her off mid-sentence and, totally sure of his words, said clearly, "They are both in love". Tsunade chose to believe that for the sake of her own peace. The spring of that very year, she'd also get to see it. However, many things did happen in that period...

* * *

The term "team Kakashi" became something vague during those two years after Sasuke's return. A shinobi team should be formed of maximum four people. At the time Sasuke returned, team Kakashi had Sai as a fourth. When a fifth came, things got complicated for a while. Naruto and Sakura were already used with Sai's presence and strangeness and considered him a good friend. Sasuke wasn't used to the other boy's lack of tact, though. Naruto had never thought he'd live the day he'd have to stand between two teammates, like Sakura had used to do, as, when Sai or Kakashi didn't have missions of their own, they'd split, and he'd end up with the two. They could have taken Sai with them or Sakura could have let Kakashi only with Sai, but no - Sakura and Kakashi just enjoyed seeing him burn.

However, a solution came after these two years, when some love interest started to show between Sai and Ino and somehow Sai ended up with Ino's team, which had had only three members since Asuma's death.

Sai had always called her "miss gorgeous" and Ino never denied his handsome looks, but, despite growing much in social interactions since the break from Danzo, Sai was mostly as clueless as a shoe in most of situation. When Ino gave up on waiting a clear sign from him and, letting her pride aside, was the one to ask him out, he gladly accepted, before turning to Team Kakashi's other members (after Ino was gone), asking, "Isn't 'date' used as a definition of time? How can you 'have a date'?" Kakashi closed his Itcha Itcha in shock, glancing at his team, who were all glancing at each other. Even though the situation was rather funny, no one laughed. Sakura left the group, taking Sai away for some emergency tutoring on the "going out" matter, before he'd destroy everything on the next day's date with Ino.

"And, to begin with, a date is..."

Even so, they still thought he'd stumble across his lack of tact and seem a total moron, so Sakura was totally surprised when Ino talked about Sai as 'the perfect guy' after a few dates ( the fact that there had been more dates made her curious enough). But the fact that Sai said anything he had on mind about someone worked the other way round with Ino, as he only saw Ino as the most beautiful and kindest creature.

"If we wouldn't know the type of person he is, the exaggeration of his comments would make him a moron by default. Knowing he means all those things, though, only makes it more troublesome," Shikamaru commented it, bored, when casually meeting old Team 7 one day.

Well, it seemed Sai had troubles with Choji for the comments on his eating habits, but otherwise things were well.

Soon Sai started to help himself, reading forbidden files about Ino and her family and reading books on how, what and when to give a present as 'a way of showing appreciation, love or friendship'. Ino would always get confused, yet happily surprised at how she'd meet him the morning of her birthday without him to mention a word about it, and then find a box and a birthday card or letter in her backpack after he had been gone. Or when he'd come to the flower shop and buy a flower to only put it in her hair. He read somewhere that girls really appreciated when boys greeted them with a flower every day, so he picked up that habit. When she left in a longer mission (a month, with Sakura and two other medic Nins), he had no idea what to do about it, at first. The book said 'everyday'. So he kept going to the flower shop. Mrs. Yamanaka found it strange. Who was that boy, that her daughter presented as her boyfriend not long ago, buying flowers for? The mystery was revealed when, as Ino was about to turn back that day, Mrs. Yamanaka went to her daughter's room to get it just ready for a good sleep when Ino would come. On her daughter's desk, there was a vase with thirty flowers in different states of health.

Or that time he bought a whole bouquet without saying a word, then showed up with them at their door, that evening.

"Happy birthday, Mrs. Yamanaka!"

"Thank you so much, Sai! My own daughter and husband totally forgot about it, this year," she glared at her family, Ino and Inoichi sharing a damn-that's-why-she-was-so-pissed-today look.

What no book prepared him for was their first kiss, which came spontaneously from both parts. Team Kakashi had to get through the torture of hearing the love struck guy talking like a teenage girl about his first kiss, "...no book can describe something so beautiful!"

"Actually, chapter 2 of Itcha Itcha...," the other three covered Kakashi's mouth, fearing of what could turn out if you sum tactless and badmouth Sai with Itcha Itcha. Besides, one shinobi not bothered to read those in public was enough.

* * *

The beginning of next year's March came with preparations for officially naming Hanabi as the new future leader of the Hyuuga family, planned for the 27th of March, the day she'd turn 16. Of course, it could have waited several more years, but, that winter, the Hyuuga Elder died, making Hiashi officially occupy that position, which claimed for him to officially announced the child of his who'd be to follow him. And Hiashi had never made it a secret that would be Hanabi, even though Hinata was the oldest.

There was a discussion in the absence of Hinata and Hanabi, the men of the Branch arguing over the fact that Hinata was strong enough, that she'd advanced in every single matter over the years and this was not fair for her. The truth was the other Hyuugas couldn't help but value Hinata more. It wasn't a matter of power of their leader. Both girls were unusually quiet, but Hinata showed kindness and indulgency while Hanabi was a distant, respectful in a proud way. It's not that she was cocky or bossy. She was a good girl, but seemed covered in ice.

Neji, who had the first word out of the Branch families, in both appropriateness and scale of blood lineage towards Hiashi, commented nothing. He was not the one to put emotion over sense. In this matter, he just might.

At the age of 13, he could tell himself he hated every bit of the Main family. When he fought Hinata back then, he had almost killed her. At that time they barely knew each other. It was just convenience. But, a while after that disastrous Chunin exam, she came to him asking if he'd help her train. From the moment he had found out the real story about his father's death until then, he had his time to meditate upon it. He glanced at her, Hinata looking determinate, yet unsure. He didn't feel hate for this girl. To think about it, he almost felt pity. Hiashi was even interested in training him after appreciating his potential, but wouldn't try to pay any more interest in his oldest daughter since she didn't seem a good enough heir.

"Of course, Hinata-sama."

He didn't expect much. If her father couldn't train her well enough, there was no chance he'd do any better. Yet she managed to surprise. It was a matter of time before he didn't feel he paid any requested respect - she gained his respect. He had never thought such determination could lie in the weak girl he had always seen. He got to even care for her, actually feeling she was his family. She wasn't a constant speaker, but he always listened carefully to every word of hers, respectfully saluting her before even saluting Hiashi, being sometimes overprotective despite the fact she quitted needing protection long ago. He even occasionally punched boys who'd start chatting over her recently developed curves. Hinata was too modest too realize there was an obvious effect she had amongst men. Hyuugas were genetically given amazing, noble features - Hinata and Hanabi were both blessed with a soft, natural beauty.

"Eh, I don't know what the matter with Hyuugas and their knack is for boys when their girls turn out this way," a young shinobi was shouting in a bar after his seventh glass of sake. Neji calmly translated that as a cry to be eased of some bones.

"Ne, are you jealous, Neji? Don't tell me you're into your cousins, too, now," his fiancée, by then, would tease him and the others would join in comments alike. He'd give Tenten a thanks-for-your-support glare and get himself a drink.

He wasn't the one to enjoy the jokes directed to him, also knowing in his case it was not to be joked about. He knew Hiashi had had in the past in mind a marriage between him and Hanabi, finding in him a strong, yet respecting future husband. As the heiress, she needed to have children, yet Hyuuga children - she couldn't marry outside the family. Maybe he would have accepted to do it for the family if he wouldn't have fallen, in time, in love with his team-mate, Tenten. And Hinata was family - a cousin, a sister. He could call her a friend - a good one of both him and his fiancée.

Hiashi raised his hand, demanding silence.

"Hinata did become stronger over the years. I can see that myself and I'm proud of her accomplishment. But Hinata does not possess the attitude of a leader."

Objectively, he'd still have chosen Hinata, but Hiashi was right: Hanabi was the one born to be a leader.


	3. One week

Noboru was just months old when Hinata's first Genin team's members have all been advanced to Chuunin, making them capable of going on missions as independent ninjas or even leaders of their own team. Even though she was very proud, there began the time when she started to feel isolated. The day that had brought the burden on her shoulders, had also had her giving up on her hospital shifts. She had told herself she couldn't abandon her Genin team just when they were so close to their exam, but now the inevitable happened. Even her last chance of staying in contact with the world was gone.

Well, not last... Naruto kept coming by after work. Nothing compared to the feeling of hearing his unmistakable steps down the hall as she poured tea and raise her head to see him come in, the Hokage hat hanging in his hand (the sight of which made her feel so proud), smilingly greeting, "Konichiwa, Hinata-chan!". And there were Neji and Tenten visiting when they had the time, too, usually on Sundays. But the rest of time she'd feel lonely, though being rarely alone, surrounded by also dreams, yet mostly worries for tomorrow. Sometimes, she felt tired and sick of anything, but she knew there was no time to waste on these.

"Hinata?"

Raising her head from a scroll she wasn't paying attention to anyways, she met a pair of eyes so similar to hers, yet so different - same color and structure, different energies.

"H-Hanabi?" This was not the scenario to act so fragile!

"I need to tell you something," Hanabi stated, head high, with authority, taking a seat in front of her older sister, not waiting for an invitation and not losing eye contact. "I'll make this short and straight," she continued, folding her arm, "I know what you have in mind."

Hinata flinched. That was indeed 'short and straight'. But how would she know?

"Please don't react so - it was obvious. Emotionally, you had always been like this. You let anything show in your face. I know your future plans for all and how you're hoping to make it smoothly out of here and into the Hokage's house and bed. Die as a peaceful Uzumaki, with many blonde, clueless kids like him." Her words were bitter, her attitude know-it-all. Hanabi hadn't used to be like that. In these last months, she had thought about how she missed her sister, nevermind their relationship had never been really close. But she didn't want THIS sister.

"As if...," Hanabi went on, "He's so oblivious and you're so bad in trying to show your intentions that you'd actually think you two would make a good couple!"

"Just...leave," Hinata was, on the contrary, the one to sit up to go. Now she really started feeling sick. A cold relationship was something, but a bitter one brought its taste in her mouth.

"Leaving the matter aside," Hanabi didn't let her go so easily, "the others might also not agree with your other plan."

"We'll see," Hinata closed the door behind her, thankful her voice sounded all steady this time. If only everything worked out well in the end...

* * *

A newborn Noboru was held carefully in her arms as she thankfully looked at a just awakened Neji. Tenten had passed out after the birth, but not before finding out it was a healthy boy, his name was Noboru and his Otousan was now fine as well. Even though he was too weak to dare take his son in his arms (what if he broke something?), he was happy and proud to see the chubby thing close to him, already sleeping.

"You'll soon be able to see Tenten, too, but we'll to bring her here - you'll need to not move from there a while from now," Hinata told him, constantly studying him for any bad sign, but since she explained him what happened back then, a month ago, he seemed both relaxed and careful.

"And now?" he asked her the question she was hesitating to answer even for herself.

"Now there are many things I need to sort out," she told the only true answer she could think of and was relieved he let that be enough on the matter for now.

"But this is torture! Come on; help me hold him myself at least a little while. Sakura doesn't have to know," he pleaded, hardly pulling his arms up and towards the baby. She laughed and easily placed Noboru there, keeping her hands close in case she needed to catch him. She had her Byakugan on, analyzing his chakra flow - as long as he had any strength in his arms, the silly smiling father would hold on to his newborn son.

* * *

"He, I can't wait to hang with Gaara and ol' B again! It's gonna be awesome!" Naruto folded his arms behind his back, leaning in his chair. It was more than a month before Noboru's birth.

"Hang out? Awesome? Isn't this supposed to be a serious meeting on which the constancy of world peace depends or something?" Sakura asked skeptically. Sometimes she thought no one could rather wear the Rokudaime's robes but Naruto, other times it gave the impression he was a monkey with paperwork and he had no idea what he was doing.

"Hai, that's the point: good understanding between the Kages," Naruto waved his hand in the air carelessly.

"You mean the fate of five nations lies in what could result out of a poker night and several glasses of sake? And people wonder how four Shinobi Wars were possible?"

"We were all allies in the fourth, though."

"Oh, my bad. ONLY three wars - no big deal," she commented sarcastically, starting to get really pissed off towards the guy, but she tried to hold it in. She promised herself to stop hitting him some years ago, but sometimes it was hard to stay aback. Still, hitting the recently officially announced Hokage would not be greatest for her career.

"Besides, I can only see them twice a year now: these meetings and chunin exams."

"You haven't seen them any more than that up until now either, dobe."

"Yeah, we haven't seen much each other since the war," Naruto sigh and Sakura couldn't help thinking, if another war would rise, it would all be casual hanging out with friends for their Hokage. The 'clueless monkey' side of him was still sitting there, a stupid smile playing on his lips. Then all of a sudden he sobered.

"You know, I have a bad feeling," he added, looking abnormally serious.

"You leave us for a week and we'll be over without you. Ok, you're right," Sasuke spoke ironically from his chair.

But Naruto was still thoughtful.

* * *

**A/N:** If you read this so far, you might think "Pieces and pieces and pieces and none part of the same time period or in the right timeline order!" I swear, once this will be finished, you'll be able to take all these pieces and, put together, you'll have a well flowing story, but this is not my type.

Also, for anyone who still wants to keep reading this, from now on there will be a period of 5-7 between the chapters and I'll post in the story summary when next chapter comes, a day or two in advance. I am the type who needs schedules and deadlines to keep working...

Reviews (bad or good) are all welcome! (Please? I'll send virtual cookies?)


	4. Where Home Is

**Chapter 4**

On the 13th of February, the Hyuuga Elder was declared death. That made the rest of that month and the following one unfortunate for not only the Hyuuga family, but also Konoha and the other four World powers, as it was not a natural incident. The Hyuuga Elder had been poisoned. It could have been just a national or even family problem, but several similar cases started taking place among noble families worldwide. It took little for the five allies to make a connection and urgently contact each other.

Having a reputation in the matter, Tsunade was practically assaulted with desperate calls of help as more and more people of the high society started falling sick. It seemed that the poison didn't kill immediately, though worked inside the body towards a sudden, painful death. The symptoms were not harsh ones and the Hyuuga Elder had surely hidden them proudly, probably linking them to his common condition of aging. Of course, many false cases came due to the confusions. In such cases, dealing with panic is worse than dealing with the problem itself.

There have been taken samples of blood from every member of important, powerful families for further investigations and measures of precautions, hoping none would be poisoned further on. The investigations and research were to be taken place in the Hidden Village of the Water Nation, as richest in necessary plants. As the poison was tricky and hard to identify, even though Tsunade couldn't leave the village for as much as the research could take, she sent her apprentices, Shizune and Sakura, accompanied by Ino and Hinata as assistants.

It wasn't hard work to try and find someone to escort them.

"I'll go, too," Uchiha Sasuke said, not much as an offer, but as a totally clarified fact. He had knocked at the Hokage's door just a little while after the girls had been sent to prepare themselves to leave.

"Are you afraid that away from whatever genjutsu you casted on her, she'll realize you're not worth it?" she asked him, coldly ironical, but signing him a permission - he was still a strong shinobi, able to confront anything that might get in their way.

He took the paper, not a single muscle of his face moving at the remark, emotionless - this guy was made of stone and she couldn't bear the thought Sakura might end up living with him forever. After all, all he wanted was a wife.

Just when he was about to open the door, he turned around, facing her once again. His face was still stone, his voice still emotionless.

"I, too, think she'd be better without me, but...Hn," he grimaced in his usual way, turning again to the door, lifting his hand to the doorknob, and then turned back to her again. This time, his voice was a note higher and his face looked pretty pissed off.

"I'm not worth it. The second she'd tell me to go, I would. But I'd still be somewhere in the shadows, ready to defend her, no matter what. She may have been better if I were dead, but if anything happened to her, I would be lost again. She's love, peace, carry and joy - she's home. And I am nothing someone like her couldn't find anywhere else. Let me at least always be her protection." And with that, he stormed out the door, leaving a speechless Tsunade behind and an intruder on the roof that found the information good to know.

Still, Tsunade couldn't just stay around and wait. She had to conduct her own research while keeping in touch with what the other girls would find. But there was all this paperwork that took time...

"Baa-chan," Naruto slammed the door open - long since he had bothered to ask for permission, "this is not S-class. The mission is just A-class - just re-read these details in the last pa-"

"Contesting my hard work? Why don't YOU do it, then, Mr. I-know-better," she retorted, still curiously taking the scroll to check. Indeed, the risk was reduced by...

"I would do a MUCH better job," the blonde stuck up his nose, crossing his arms.

"Then it's all yours," the unexpected answer came from the Godaime, smiling happily, relieved to get rid of that, as she handed him his scroll and a huge basket with many others. A burden less. There comes some time for her research.

"And I'll tell the one in charge to look for you when new come from now on. Rank them, hand them and keep yourself an S-rank if you'll still have the energy for that," she told him and was surprised that, instead of his moral down for having to deal with all that, the guy was all enthusiasm.

"Awesome! I always wanted to see all mission and pick whatever the hell I want," he smiled widely, just waving goodbye.

"I can't wait to entirely hand this over to you," Tsunade told him, just as she'd always say when definitively handing another Hokage duty to Naruto.

When he did so well in the first post-war meeting, she decided to let the annual meetings of sorts in his hands, too. When, exhausted with all the work after war, Tsunade got mad and just got drunk, Naruto promised to a desperate Shizune he'd handle the Council meeting Tsunade had planned for that afternoon. With a sheet of paper consisting of notes of matters Tsunade had planned to discuss that day and the conclusions she had hoped to convince the Council of, he headed to the meeting.

Next day, carrying a painful hangover, Tsunade met a member of the Council, saying something about how, even though they agreed with all her points... Agreed with all her points?

"So it took you only two hours to get to an agreement with them?" she was questioning Naruto later that day.

"Iie, for almost an hour of that they only argued on how I was 'not authorized for that position'," Naruto explained before taking a mouthful of Ramen. Her treat.

"You could have used a Henge and be done with that, you know," she realized, thinking the boy was not as oblivious as to not had realized that himself.

The blonde swallowed his ramen and smiled widely.

"I know, I just wanted to have them used to me in that chair," he laughed mischievously, ordering one more bowl.

Tsunade agreed in her mind. If Naruto could make them shut their mouths and get rid of them so easily, they might as well get used to him - Naruto ended by taking over that duty, too.

Little did he knew Tsunade planned to hand it all over to him soon enough. Everyone was aware it would be him. He had proved he'd always stand in front to defend his village and his people, during the Pain attack. He had proved he was the most powerful, defeating the most powerful enemies during the 4th World War. And he had been proving Tsunade he could do extremely good in the daily Hokage duties. It was not a surprise it would eventually happen. The new events just delayed the date.


	5. Running for your death

**Running for your death**

Almost three years after being named Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto was leaning against a tree, somewhere at the boarders of the forest. His companion, Uchiha Sasuke, was lying at the bottom of the tree, arms crossed behind his back, looking up at the dark sky. The moon has been up for a while now, the working program long gone. Those were peaceful times. They got to learn, no matter how much good changes the world would get through, perfectly peaceful times would never last. Orochimaru's attack, so many years ago, Pein's attack, the war and, just when things were getting better, the poisoning troubles, and then the 'Hyuuga matter'.

Not all of a shinobi's days would ever be peaceful. Not all of a shinobi's nights would be peaceful. But that had been a peaceful day. And it was also a peaceful night.

"Teme?"

"Ah?"

"What's it like, being in love?"

"Hn."

"I'm serious, teme. I mean, really being in love. 'Cause you are really in love with Sakura, right? And I want to know... not just the fancy, like-the-looks... I mean the whole thing, the real thing, dattebayo. 'Cause you know the answer, right?"

Sasuke glanced at Naruto who was staring at him, waiting for an answer, curious and certainly concerned with the matter. He then glanced back up, really thinking if he did know the answer. Yes, he was in love with Sakura. And it was the whole, real thing, he was certain. Yet, could it be explained? Did he know it?

"They say the way to love is working, building the way to a strong relationship, but... I think it goes much deeper. You have to want to be there, to just... want to be there. Nowhere else. Whether it's a house or on the battlefield... she's there with you and it becomes the only place you want to be at. Friend, love, family, home."

Naruto nodded to himself.

"Teme?"

"Ah?"

"I'm going to tell her."

"Tell who what?"

"The only one I want to be with that I love her."

* * *

Within a week after Sasuke's and the medic nins' leaving, Tsunade received some good and some bad news. The good news was that the entire medic nins arrived at the destination unharmed and already started their work. Due to some experiments developed in Kirigakure's medical base, they managed to conclude it took one week for 10 ml of the substance to provoke death. The bad news were that it meant there were only 2 weeks left for their bodyguard to live unless an antidote was found in the meantime.

The letter, written by Shizune, said they were attacked midway by a group of ten. They recognized some of them to be well known paid killers, missing nins. Being only five, they still managed to keep themselves safe. Sasuke killed three of them, while the others killed another two. It was uncertain to her what actually happened right there, but she caught sight of some bee-like things aiming Sakura, the pinkette getting ready to slam them all with one shot of her hand. A moment later, the Uchiha boy was all over Sakura, stricken by all those bees. Right that moment, the ninjas fled away.

_Sakura kept being upset all the rest of the journey. No one commented anything, but the two of them kept whispering to each other angrily. He was grumpy, but looked all indifferent to what she was protesting. The bee weapons were still all over him. At some moment Sakura added sharply to not even dare move them. _

_When we arrived we started seeing the files sent from each village, containing the poisoned noble family members poisoned so far -203+75 suspected to be aimed._

_After seeing the lists, Sakura added bitterly to the one in charge, "Will you please add Uchiha Sasuke from Leaf Village to the contaminated, please. He wasn't on the 'suspects' list because he was supposed to be smarter than this!" Sasuke was next to her, arms crossed._

_"Plan or not, I don't care. If I wouldn't have done it, you were the one poisoned now!" He started calmly and emotionless, but ended up shouting angrily. Honestly, he scared us all excepting Sakura._

_"I CAN make an antidote! I would have been fine!"_

_"Then why are you scared for me, then, right? But what if you wouldn't have been fine? What if there's NO antidote?"_

_At the words that actually proved him right, his face turned somehow... apologetic. I can't really describe the scene, but it was marking. As soon as he said that, both his face and Sakura's lost their anger. Sakura looked hurt, sinking in the reality, while he looked simply sorry and helpless (it seemed so strange to see him that way!) for what he had just said, for the effect it had on her, not for the fact he might soon die. She looked struck and sad, but he looked destroyed. _

_Remember all the times we jokingly planned his death so Sakura could be free, out of his "evil wizardry"? I feel bad now. It feels like we and Sasuke have something in common. Neither of the three of us cares if he's alive, but we must realize Sakura cares. And that she'd be hurt. And none of us wants her hurt._

_Straight after that she took him in the lab and started to get out the bees, checking how much poison one of them carried and how many of them actually reached his flesh. Some just got stuck in his vest or boots. Ten. Ten did get into his skin. Ten of each 0,5 ml. This means 5 ml. We waited for 24 hours to make an overall checking and summed the progress statistics so far and so determined the overall time it takes for the substance to destroy the brain's cells._

_Following more check-ups during these 24 hours, it turned out the poison, wherever it originally landed, just makes its way to the brains. It doesn't really matter where the poison originally landed. Each ml of the substance gets to the brain at the same time. There, they start a gradual destruction of the nerves. That freaked us out at the very moment. Damages of the nervous system are incredibly dangerous, you know that. An antidote to reverse brain damages… Our moral is down, you can imagine. And you can imagine how Sakura is right now. Even if we find the way to stop the poison, we can't be sure the patients will ever be the same. I attached a full description of what we've done so far. I'll send any updates with the emergency messengers as soon as we have any. Time is really important now._

_Hoping for us to clear this mess as soon as possible, Tsunade-sama._

_Shizune_

Tsunade preferred not to think about anything of that yet. Instead, she opened the research results documents and started her own. Time was ticking away.

* * *

A/N: I know I am not posting according to the schedule, but my real life schedule knows how to work against me. I'll really try to have more than one chapter ready for now on, so something like this doesn't happen again. I'll have a longer chapter ready before the 29th, I promise.


	6. Two weeks

Sai bought his usual flower, small chatted with Ino's mother as "the book" required and walked out the flower shop casually, oblivious to his girlfriend's mother curiosity concerning who her daughter's boyfriend was buying flowers for when Ino had been gone for eight days now. She found him really pleasant, but so odd sometimes. But after all, all Shinobi had their strange ways. She'd know, she was married to one.

In the meantime, Sai climbed to Ino's window and placed the flower in the vase, next to the others. Then he headed to the Hokage Tower. Once out of "Roots", he thought his life would be like any other normal person's one. But he didn't become a normal person, just a normal shinobi. A normal shinobi would never have an entirely normal life. Out of the normal side of life he had with Ino and his newly made friends, he was still a soldier, a killer.

He may have been socially awkward and clumsy in speech in his new, better life, but in his missions he was still a professional.

"You're just in time, Sai. Come closer," the Godaime claimed.

"Hai." He found it weird how easily he got from the distaste implanted by Danzo to high respect towards Konoha's Hokage.

"I have something really important to send to the land of Water, something I can't trust sending with any messenger. If this scroll gets in the enemy's hands and there's no way to take it back, find a way to destroy the scroll along with the one who took it, understood?"

"Hai."

Walking out the door, Sai thought that killing any intruder who might get in the way was better, just in case, and asked himself if he should get Ino something for when he arrived in Kirigakure.

* * *

"This can't be the same poison that killed ojiisan."

Hinata had never talked much and she'd usually stutter and lose her train of thoughts when she did talk around the ones not very close to her. But when it came to her work, whether as a kunoichi or as a medic nin, she sounded clear and straight to the point.

Everyone turned their attention to her. People rarely thought of any of the Elders as someone's ojiisan, someone's family, and it just struck them that "the Hyuuga Elder" was Hinata's grandfather.

"I-I-I m-mean..." The sudden spotlight attention shook her confidence for a moment, but she regained her guts and stood steadily.

"I thought of his symptoms. Ojiisan's. I-I mean, I didn't know what they were at the time, b-b-but... I-I-It's just... It was weaker. The poison. Take into consideration... Sasuke is a young man. His organism is much stronger, especially the nervous system. I think that poison... I-I-I mean ojiisan's... I think that was a prototype and anything we researched having only that sample has not real worth."

Hinata's conclusion was demoralizing, yet true. Shizune nodded absently. So all these more than two hundreds poisoned people were not only in different stages since the poison had set, but might also have poison in different stages of strength.

Sakura clasped her hands together anxiously, feeling time pressure pressing upon her. There were only eight days left. She couldn't even think of trying to get at least a part of the poison out using the method she saved Kankuro with, those years ago in Suna. The Kazekage's brother hadn't had poison in the brain. And more importantly, that one poison she had taken out didn't THINK. What kind of poison actually SEARCHES for the place to let its venom work?

Ino looked out the window hopelessly, avoiding the sight of her old friend. And the landscape made her smile at that moment. She'd seen it a bunch of times before and never found it anything near wonderful. But today there was a wonderful detail about it - somewhere in the distance, Sai was flying towards them.

* * *

Shizune read through Tsunade's handwriting impatiently at first and ended up by not understanding a single word. Breathing in soundly, she calmed down, waited for her mind to cool a bit and her hands to stop shaking before a second reading. Breathing out slowly, she raised the letter one more time. She had the others waiting outside. It was safer for the letter... and for her.

"_Tested the samples I received_... _Kind of thinks on its own_... Yes, Tsunade, we know that already... _DON'T try to manually get it out_... Glad Sakura thought so, too... _Day 1: no noticeable changes should take place (the poison is still scattered through different parts of the body)_... Checked... _Day 2: light, then severe headaches (venom makes its way to the brains)_... Checked, though it took him some to warn us... _Day 3: difficulties in hearing and orientation in space_... Checked, I never shouted so much in my life and, talking about me, that says a lot. Though, in any other scenery it would have been funny to see the Uchiha guy clumsy and confused... _Day 4: difficulties in walking (pressure taking place upon the cerebellum)_... Proud people like him must find feeling weak as a personal insult... Well, checked... _Day 5: cerebellum is disabled_... Checked... _Day 6: sight goes weaker_... And, checked for today, too. _Day 7: no changes being taken. The poison is merely preparing for the next phase_... _Day 8_..."

Shizune couldn't help but be impressed of her master's work. With only one sample of the poison, she managed to conclude its effects on the period of two weeks. She couldn't help but smile a bit at the thought that, despite she'd given her the standard measure as 10 ml - a week, Tsunade had worked on figuring out the details for 5ml, Sasuke's dose. Tsunade got to the same conclusion as she did when writing her letter, though there was no comment on the Sasuke/Sakura matter in the letter sent to Shizune. But the accurate poisoning states description, for the particular case only, said more than enough. Same did the bottle sent with them. Shizune doubted there was something as huge as the antidote itself in the bottle, but there had to be something important. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been sent so urgently.

Also, thinking of the choice of sending Sai instead of the normal eagle messenger made her realize it wasn't only a matter of time/speed. Tsunade didn't want these things to get through intermediate hands, of the Leaf or of Kirigakure. Probably because it was something rather kept untold, because it was egoistic. There were many other ones poisoned who wouldn't get such a direct, special attention from Tsunade-sama herself, no matter they were all part of important families of the shinobi world. Sasuke was too lucky that someone like Sakura loved him. Luckier than he'd ever know.

She opened the scroll attached to the bottle impatiently. To her disappointment, there weren't rich details as in the other. Actually, it barely said anything. There were only four words: _You probably remember this._

* * *

"Baachan, why didn't you tell me, damnit?" He was once again coming in without knocking, though this one time in her medical laboratory, not her office. Once again, he was carrying a scroll. That scroll...

"How did you get that, brat?" Not many things could make Tsunade be mad at Naruto, but this...

"Found it in your desk while, ya know, doing your job, so you could play with these freaking tubes," he pointed to her medical equipment, the 'freaking tubes'. "Is it true he could die, baachan? And why would you keep such thing from me?"

Tsunade's rage didn't last long. Naruto was acting insulted, but he looked mostly hurt. Why should these two so dear to her be both so into the Uchiha guy? The other day, even though she started the work by looking for overall information on the poison's effects, she ended up sweating countless hours over Sasuke's particular case only. She felt quite ashamed. Leaving feelings overcome was a medic's worst enemy. It was long since she had last let that happen to herself. She had taught her apprentice to be cautious with that, too. But how could she claim anything from Sakura when she knew so well what it was like to have the one you love die before your eyes. And you can't do anything to save him. And how could she claim anything from Naruto when the blonde called the Uchiha boy his brother. And she'd seen a dead brother before.

And that's how she got to leaving so many other people's lives on second place and work hard only for Sasuke's life. Because sometimes, when you're one fighting for the good of a majority, sacrificing everything, you ask yourself, not just once, 'Why try to make everyone else happy and leave myself dying in sorrow?'. Sometimes, you need to be egoistic, she had learnt in all these years. Only sometimes, she thought, recalling the moment Orochimaru promised her lover and brother back in exchange for Konoha. That one price was too high.

"Let me go there!" Naruto demanded. Tsunade sighed. All her anger was gone. She looked at him with pure compassion.

"Naruto, are you a medic or do you know anything about poisoning," she asked him perfectly calm.

He bowed his head, understanding what she was pointing out and feeling useless. Despite all of that power, he couldn't help his best friend anyhow this time. If he wasn't able to at least always keep his dear ones unharmed, what worth had had all that work over the years, all the struggle?

"You have nothing to do there, so why don't you rather help by doing what you do best?" Tsunade offered and he looked up at her attentively, waiting for whatever it took for him to help.

"I discovered this one compound in the poison," and she pointed to one of the mixes she had been working on, " that gives us a good trace to the source of all this. I'm sending you on an important investigation." While talking, she was attentively filling a sheet of paper. "Time is ticking away, so you have my permission to be as loud as you please."

Naruto nodded, his rare serious face masking his fears and worries. He took the indications she had written, listening carefully to every word she said afterwards.

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter was quite a pain. I had to make endless counting and re-counting so I can be sure I don't mess up with time. It takes 4-5 days to get to Kiri. They were attacked the 3rd. Almost 2 more days for them to get there. 1 day to evaluate Sasuke (3rd since poisoning). 1 day for results to get to Tsunade - sent by flight, so much faster (Kiri is over the sea in case you didn't know) than sailing (4th day). 1 day for Tsunade's research (5th day). 1 day for Sai to fly there (6th day - he arrives in late afternoon). Did I miss anything? Hope not.

Also, I'll keep things in chronological order for a while now. Any intruding in the current action would come out of place.

Oh, anatomies tip in case you didn't know and found it out of place: people do live without the cerebellum ( or the 'little brain'). The cerebellum's job consists in motion and orientation in space. Also, having the cerebellum disabled, 'dead', doesn't mean you won't walk properly ever again. In time, by therapy, the work the cerebellum had to do is passed over to the 'big brain' and it gets back to normal. Thanks for resisting to this bragging, as, in case you didn't, it was necessary you knew, so it doesn't freak you out.

As I said, I have written more, so I won't be late in posting again. Two more chapters are ready and I'll post again in 4-5 days, as I said I would. I'm really excited about those two chapters, so you better don't miss them (Please?).


	7. The Object Of War

**A/N:** Lost another follower. Pppffff... I hate it when they go just like that. It would be lovely if would direct you to something like this eveytime you unfollow someone or one of their stories:

You are unfollowing this story because:

( ) Did you read this? This plot started to suck, man... *explain*

( ) She... and then he... THIS HAS NO SENSE! *explain*

( ) She killed/tortured/paired with the wrong person my favorite character! *who?*

( ) I swear the writer was psicho... *needs no explanation*

( ) I followed this by mistake. Sorry for the inconvenience. *nevermind...*

( ) Unfo... What? *what?*

Please PM me this if you plan on unfollowing. It would mean a lot.

* * *

25th of February was the day they arrived in Kiri. Since the very first moment, they'd been kept busy. The sleeping was divided in equal shifts. One representant of the Leaf always had to be guarding on the patients they had there and their evolution. It's not that the medics of Kiri weren't trusted, but they weren't as good in poisoning matters as a student of Tsunade-sama herself was.

For two days, they've been working on the poisoned people's lists, calculating the time would take in each case for the poison to make its effects. Hinata had the one from G to L, so the other didn't know she was making her own particular countings at H. Hyuuga Hiashi was on the list. She had hidden her shock when finding him in there. She was sure he hadn't been noted there when they had left Konoha. Whether something had happened during her journey to Kiru, her family never thought of letting her know.

After the 2 days of work, Hinata realized (and also let the others know) that the strenght of the poison varied, too. The countings had to be re-made, but for that they needed samples of blood from every poisoned person. They sent emergency requests for the Villages, claiming for all the poisoned ones to be sent there, as Tsunade had first proposed. But, no, the ones like Tsuchikage and Raikage had said back then they couldn't send their important shinobi at sea in such dangerous times. Shizune brought up that matter in this letter, emphasizing that their ' important shinobi are already doomed. What else worse could happen to them? Besides, if an antidote is to be found, they'd be just ready to have it, increasing every one's of them chances at life'.

In the meantime, they worked with samples they had, of the poisoned people in Kiri and the ones in Konoha and Suna, sent there even before Shizune's team arrival. Of course, they weren't as specialized as to make detailed reports as Tsunade's, report that would come just the next day with Sai.

Sai, after handing everything Tsunade sent to Shizune (who ran with them to her office and locked the door), walked past Ino and gave Hinata a scroll.

"Neji gave this to me as I was walking out the Village. He said Hiashi-sama heard I was called to be sent in Kiri for some reason and ask me to not leave the place until you read it," Sai spoke officially, before turning smiley and casually to greet his girlfriend, as Hinata already walked out with the scroll.

Any outsider may have found Sai's ways creepy, but after the initial shock of being totally ignored, Ino was over it. She knew Sai well by now. Shinobi Sai was shinobi Sai, while her Sai was a whole different thing. She knew he had been taught that duty came before anything. He didn't feel he had the right to cherish himself with even the sight of his long not seen girlfriend until the last duty matter, Hinata's letter, was off his shoulders.

However, she wouldn't have minded it even if she was unaware of Sai's strangeness. As soon as he turned to her, she threw her arms around his neck and silently cried. She didn't know she'd miss him that much. Not just his constant compliments and his constant protection, but just him.

Sai was unprepared by such a reaction, but it gave him a strange good feeling inside. Instictly, he put his arms around her, burrying his face in her hair.

When they let go, he got out a flower in a perfect state, placing it in her hair, which was now a messy bun, and clearing a last tear off her cheek.

Ino had been surrounded by flowers all of her life. At some point, she had even started to get sick of them, their strident colors and their sweet scents. So it always surprised her with how much pleasure and emotion she recieved Sai's each single flower. Also, without anyone to know, she kept each of them pressed inside old books' pages like any silly teenage girl. After all, she was already 21. Yet, usually, her inner silly teenage girl would win these fights. She raised her head and playfully pressed her lips upon his, smiling widely.

Seeing her bright eyes, he thought he had chosen the right blue from the jewerly catalogue.

* * *

Hinata wasn't sent any details of what happened at home, just details of what was going to happen. Due to 'circumstances she was probably aware of', Hanabi's ceremony was going to take place sooner, on 1st of March. If he was to die, Hiashi wanted to be sure things will be left in order. He was asking whether she could afford to miss from the research base in order to be present. Sai would get her and bring her back, so she would miss less than three days per total. For a brief moment, she wondered if they asked if she wanted to join only because she was legally the actual heiress.

Leaving that down, she opened a letter that dropped from the scroll while opening it and carried Neji's signature. He probably slipped it in as soon as Hiashi gave him his. Neji's was less formal and more explicative. He explained how Hiashi got into the same trap as the last Uchiha did - aim someone they care about, so they'll risk themselves. That was Hanabi in this case. Hinata randomly wondered if Hiashi would have done the same for her. He did kill for her once. But that was long before, when she was still the heiress. He protected her then because she was still the only possible heiress back then, but now he protected Hanabi only as his daughter. This time, they were two. If Hanabi died, there would have still been her. Or was she a THAT bad choice for things to be otherwise?

Neji was also taking the time to ask how she's doing, how is work going, did she want to know anything and send Tenten's love. Also, he added: "You are a good medic nin and important in Shizune's team. Don't leave your work and team for the sake of Hiashi-sama". That made her take the decision.

In response to Hiashi's letter, she didn't even mention the ceremony, but asked him for a blood sample for their research as he surely didn't have the time to make the journey himself to Kiri. Still, she adviced him to come just after the ceremony, so he would be under medical observation. The letter was as formal as possible, signed with her full name.

* * *

Sai left two hours later, with one last kiss from Ino, the response from Hinata and just three spoken words for Tsunade from Shizune: "I got it". Of course, all the girls were curious about the meaning. Shizune told them they'll discuss that as soon as they finished sorting the blood samples on period and poison strenght. There was a total of 86 blood samples. They only analyzed 80. The other six were thrown away. They weren't needed anymore - the ones they belonged to died in course of that day; pretty obvious when their poisoning was due. Other ten of them died the day before. They were also announced seven other deaths from Kumo and Iwa.

That night, the girls took their food and took a seat at Shizune's desk, waiting for the big news to be revealed. Tsunade's longer letter passed through the hands of all of them, though Suizune told them from the very start her response was related to the second letter only, so bigger theirs surprised, only discovering there a few words with no sense.

"You see, I've been Tsunade's student for most of my life. And a sure thing about Tsunade is she know any type of plant. In her researches, she collected any and found the curative effects of all - if there were any.

One day, she showed a very rare one. I couldn't understand what she meant at first. And then I recognized this empty bottle. This was the bottle Tsunade showed me back then." She raised the bottle Sai came with. It was of a dark color and really heavy, so she didn't figure out it was empty the first time she took it. Then, seeing it empty, she thought maybe Tsunade was getting old and she had just mistaken the bottles. But then a single remaining letter sparkled in the light and it dawned to her...

"It is rare and the people who have it find it priceless. However, testing on the one she manage to steal, actually, Tsunade found no curative properties, so she never tried to get more. The plant had only one important quality that seemed to have nothing to do with medicine. Tracing. How does that work and why is it so priceless?

"To tell it straight, it's like a little ninja. Brewed, it can be used as liquid or vapors. The thing about it is it's undetectable - unless you know what you're looking for - and it has the capacity to carry anything with it. In the first two world wars, when it was last used, they used to combine them with vapors of poison, dangerous bombs the size of a cell and others. Vaporized even years before in the air, they'd stick there until what they're looking for appears. There is an area in the country they grew in still filled with such that people know not to traspend, though they surely don't know why. In order to give them a target, the plants are brewed together with some human skin - nothing much, just a bit of dead skin. If the target is something internal, they take - well, TOOK; it was long ago - a bit of that from corpses. It was war, so they had a lot of those.

"The only downside - upside, for us - is that, in the poison's case, it takes longer to work, as the poison cells are surrounded too closely by this plant's ones."

"It seems that they gradually found a way to make it react faster - so comes the same poison has differents strenght in some cases. And it gets difficult to find an antidote just because we can't really get to the real poison - this plant surrounds and protects it," Sakura realized. The others only listened. Hinata and Ino were not specialized in poisons. Though, they were better and faster watchers of a patient's state.

"Exactly," Shizune nodded.

"B-b-but if t-the pla-plant is this rare... I-I m-mean, we'd n-n-need that plant, r-right?" Hinata managed to say.

"If Tsunade-sama hadn't said anything more, it means she already has something in mind and only wanted to let us know it for now," was all Shizune had in mind and she hoped it was so - time was ticking away.

* * *

He had never seen getting to use his father's Hiraishin such a blessing. This way, he had to solve things in time. He just had to. He had never let Sasuke down and this was not the time to do it. Not as long as he had a word in that. His best friend would not die.

He was travelling to the Land of Plants. To the Village Hidden in Grass. Kusa.


	8. A Bitter Pill to Swallow

"Finally!" Tsunade exclaimed, relieved. The experiment was a success. And it hadn't been an easy one - separating the tracking plant from the actual poison. She didn't know what she could manage out of that, however. The tracking plant was protecting the poison cells. An antidote wouldn't get to it even if she had succeeded to prepare it. Still, disposing of the poison, she could figure out how it got the neuronal areas to 'out of order' more exactly. And she had to do it quick.

* * *

One of them suddenly went pale, screamed once, straightening up, and started pointing frenetically, mumbling incoherently and trying to catch his comrades' attention, also enraged by the fact that the idiots wouldn't notice what for him was obvious since the very first moment.

"Shit," Naruto had cursed just a moment before that, feeling his hood falling down his head. Sure, Tsunade told him he could be as loud as he wanted, but thinking of Sasuke, he knew there was no time to waste. And this, encountering these guys of Grass, was wasted time.

"It's... It's... him... Idiots, don't you see it's him?" the guy finally managed to speak clearly, shouting the last part, catching the others' attention. The men looked at him and then at Naruto and back at him... They didn't get it and the guy started to get exasperated.

"Eight of the nine tailed beasts... 4th War... Konoha...," the guy kept mumbling. The others were still clueless. "UZUMAKI!" he shouted at last. The others' reaction was a copy of the first one's reactions. Damn. Naruto got used to most of ninjas being friendly and respectful towards him, to citizens' admiration and sometimes gasps, but scaring the shit out of people only by showing up was something new. And strange. And annoying.

"Just don't," Naruto raised his hand to them to stop their freaking out. The last thing he needed was everyone in Grass to know Uzumaki Naruto was at the bounders. "You don't even deserve my attention," he stated afterwards, looking around to make sure their noise didn't bring others.

"Thanks Kami," the 'shouting guy' responded to that, relieved. Naruto felt like bursting out laughing at that, but he had to keep an attitude.

"Still, I can't let you guys wander around, spreading the news of my presence," he added, watching the five ninjas starting to sweat. Seriously, what kind of ninjas were these? Or, what kind of reputation did he have in these places? Did everyone else find him that fearful? Sure, gaining other seven tailed beasts during the war must have made quite a fuss. People normally feared ONLY ONE beast. Coming to eight...

Yet, he couldn't help adding, scratching his chin, "Maybe I could get Kurama to..."

"That's what he calls like the most feared of the demons!" the guy shouted again, but the others seemed to already know. It was still rather annoying than funny. He just Hiraishin-ed himself out of there. Nevermind. Even if that did alarm the others, all these ninjas wouldn't fight him, that was for sure. As he left, he rolled his eyes at one of them saying, "The legendary Hiraishin of Konoha's Yellow Flash. He is really CAPABLE OF ANYTHING!"

Funny thing, the Hiraishin had taken him a couple of years, more than any jutsu he'd ever tried. Tsunade had once found the scroll through the things of the Third's, in the Hokage Tower, while Naruto had been left with Jiraiya and only remembered of that after the war. If the Third had been keeping it, it had been meant to be Naruto's when he'd be older. But he had died before the 'older' to happen.

_ There was no way to describe Naruto's enthusiasm when he put his hands on the scroll, the scroll his father had once laid his hands upon. But the content was very complicated. It took him a lot only to figure it out. Not to mention he didn't have a lot of free time. Also, he didn't want any help. He felt he needed to gain his right to use something so precious. And it was precious not for the amazedness of the jutsu, but the fact that it was left behind by his father, a proof that he had been real, living. When finally finishing it, he was so content, he used it wherever he had to go for a week, freaking out the older people, who kept thinking seeing the deceased Yellow Flash was a sign their end was near. The younger ones, who were too little or not even born yet when Namikaze Minato had died, were amazed to see the Hiraishin their parents told them about. While talking about it with these ones, Naruto got in an 'otousan's'. There were different reactions, but Shikamaru's was priceless. He had a seriously dumb look. He looked at Naruto, then thought of a Youndaime's picture he'd once seen, and then looked back at Naruto..._

_"How much was my IQ?" he asked rhetorically._

_"I lost track by the time you reached 200," Choji answered, not realizing he was rhetorical._

_"You didn't even tell us," Sakura motioned towards her and Sasuke, only surprised at first, and then truly pissed off, "You didn't even tell US!"_

_"I've only known for a little while myself, Sakura-chan," he gulped, feeling a storm coming._

_"How much?"_

_"Almost four years..."_

_"Almost four years!? That's what you call A LITTLE WHILE?" _

Remembering those times, he couldn't help but smile. Then he sobered instantly. He had yet a very important mission to complete right now.

* * *

Just the morning after Sai's visit, an eagle messenger came from Konoha. It had probably left Hidden Leaf much before Sai's arrival, yet the new letter talked with the certainty that Shizune understood her previous message.

"Sakura!" The pinkette was right at the door the very next moment. "How's Sasuke?" Shizune asked.

"No changes today, just like Tsunade said," Sakura answered automatically.

"Tomorrow?"

"Day eighth: Deafness (8th nerve is disabled)." Sakura'd read them so much times, they were accurately stocked in her mind, appearing before her eyes every single time another attempt to solve things failed, transformed into nightmares the little times she tried to sleep.

"Next?"

"B-blindness," she was breathing hard, trying not to cry. Shizune didn't observe her. She was making her own counting, lost in too many thoughts.

"Tenth?"

"Thinking is distorted." Tears were falling down her cheeks. She was choking on a scream she was hardly holding in. It was so soon. Too soon. Much too soon. But so late. Yes, so late. So much until she had him back. And so much until she really had him. So much until she was sure he really wanted her. So little until he had to die! Too little!

"Sakura! Sakura, calm down!" She didn't realize when Shizune came and held her, but she couldn't stop herself from trembling from her sobbing, losing balance, crying soundly.

In a hospital room not far from there, Sasuke was lying somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. He may have been to lose his hearing soon, but for now, he was still hearing pretty well. At least well enough to recognize the sobs and feel more helpless and useless than ever. Stress filled his nerves, provoking faster damages. That night, he had an attack and fell in a coma. Shizune mailed Tsunade the changes the next instant.

* * *

In the letter she got the morning after Sai's visit, Tsunade announced she didn't know yet how to deal with the tracking plant, but she was working on the matter. Also she managed to separate some poison from the plant and hoped to have something done on that soon. Though, Shizune was becoming impatient. Sakura had a breakdown that day, too, making her, too, feel the situation was getting desperate. Three more people's deaths took place that afternoon and other two would die the next day, according to their counting. And none of them could do a thing...

Being a medic Nin had always been tough like that and it was even harder when your loved ones' lives were on the line. Sakura was counting down Sasuke's days, while Hinata, receiving her otousan's blood sample was making her own counting. It was the same poison strength as Sasuke's; Hiashi was poisoned just a day after Sasuke's, so if an antidote wasn't to be found, they'd die one after another, just like any other nameless ones they'd pitifully declared dead so far.

* * *

Two days later, new information came from Tsunade regarding the poison. The poison worked like a stick thrown between the wheels of a machine. In fact, it was only working during the night, more precisely, while the patient was sleeping.

During sleep, the poison would take over, finding vulnerable points and working on getting them to a stop. The ones that are not functioning at their high potential during sleep, or not at all. That's why sight, hear and movement were the first to go. For now, a way that would delay upcoming effects was keeping the patients awake. There was attached a list with more useful drugs to give them energy. It wasn't something that could go on forever, but as any minute was precious in most of their cases, it was a good input.

But the same thing couldn't be done for Sasuke. Still in coma.

His poison was the strongest. Just like it had been made especially for him. Just like they wanted to be sure. Sakura knew she wasn't exaggerating. In fact, her mind was perfectly cool now, thinking detachedly. Was Sasuke so "the most powerful" to be given this "special" attention? Objectively thinking, he was one of the most powerful. She could count on her hands' fingers the number of the ones to at least equal him.

If you thought about it, whoever they were, they were tracking the most powerful ones. People from all the five allied countries were aimed, so none of the five could be behind this. Why would little countries get in a conflict like this, though?

Thinking of "those most powerful", she remembered of Naruto. They hadn't heard from him for so long! But maybe that was better. Not having him mentioned by Tsunade meant he was more than ok. Maybe he was helping Tsunade, actually.

Yet, thinking about it... If these ones had been tracking the most powerful ones, why Sasuke, but not Naruto, who was much more... It's not like she was disappointed to not have him on the list, thanks Kami he was alright! But puzzle pieces just didn't fall into place...

* * *

**A/N:** This was supposed to be a much longer chapter, but I found myself going all "Cut!Cut!Cut! That's too much to put in!" But, damn, now I realize that would make the next chapter truly freaking long… And I'll post 'that truly freaking long chapter' Monday or Tuesday, because I don't have the patience, because there were things that had to be told in THIS chapter and it freaks me out.


	9. No cure for vanity

_Hey I just posted yesterday_

_And this is crazy_

_But that means I won't post again  
_

_For a week, maybe…_

* * *

The man started laughing hysterically, falling on his knees, the rest of his figure straight, like a machine, yet like a puppet. He talked loud, his tone switching between dark humor and seriousness.

"Do you think we're dumb? That we wouldn't know it was going to get to this point anyways? And what chance do we have, really? With all the powerful talented ninjas you all still have even after a war. We were trying to arrange things so we could have a chance in this! But we've been foolish, I guess... Just look at this: only you, one, against so many... And yet we knew we were doomed just as we crossed paths! Yes...doomed." The man was going constantly from talking and nodding to himself only, to addressing Naruto directly. The sight was almost creepy. The man seemed exhausted. And out of his mind.

On his way back, holding the package with what Tsunade required, contrary to what he's thought, Naruto had been attacked. Around thirty persons. He had swore and got mad. Four days until his friend might die and he was held there!

He had through them on full speed and full strenght, going Kiuuby mode. He hadn't meant to kill them. He had just been leaving them uncounscious or with wounds that wouldn't let them move for a while. He hated to kill. He had only killed during the war, but it's not like it had been about fellow ninjas back then.

And these ones were pretty good ninjas. Far from his level, yet quite good. Their leader was something quite impressive, but all Naruto had wanted was get out of there as soon as possible.

And when he had the leader out of chakra, too, staying on his feet, yet ready to fall, when he was just about to leave, the man fell, laughed and started telling those words that held Naruto in his place and tattooed on his mind.

"Let me tell you something! YOU had to be poisoned first! But do you think anyone had the guts to even try? If it wasn't for that pretty lover of his, do you think we would have, at least, had any chance with the last Uchiha?

"Yes, yes, we know we are nothing. We were doomed before even trying... So what are you waiting for? We know YOU could destroy this whole village on your own. All this time we have been expecting such... All this time!"

He didn't know how to respond to all that at the time, but it surely made him understand a lot. It made him understand it all. As he finally got out the trance and left, he shouted back to the Grass ninja:

"You have high expectancies that may never come true."

As soon as he'd get home, he had to make Tsunade ask for the presence of the four Kages for an emergent matter to discuss. Maybe in Kiri as he'd surely get there himself with an antidote, he hoped. And he was always Tsunade's representant in these cases, so the sooner the others got together, too, the better.

* * *

Carrying the brewed tracking plant and the list of the things needed for the antidote, Naruto was ready to go. Also, he had a quantity of like ten doses (as much as Tsunade could get done with the plants she disposed of) of already prepared antidote for the emergency cases, the ones due the day Naruto arrived - like Sasuke.

"So you won't tell me what you're going to tell the Kages? Still you expect me to let you go there," Tsunade tried one more time. The boy would usually tell the right things. He had a reputation on that. But there was much in the game and she had her reputation in losing, too.

"Baachan, I never told you when taking your place so far and, hey, things turned out perfectly, right?"

"Remember, just don't raise your voice," Tsunade warned him one more time.

"So I could even beat the shit out of them, but don't raise my voice...," he mumbled under his breath.

"Naruto!"

"Believe me, baachan, I won't say anything stupid."

"I'm not afraid you'll say something stupid. Mostly, you just act stupid. That head of yours works more than decently. Ask for its opinion before following an instinct."

* * *

It was his 13th day and the complication the coma brought made it looked like he wouldn't catch that 14th one. And there had come no sign from Tsunade for so long... Only if that coma didn't happen, so he could have stuffed with energy drugs, like the others. Only if he'd resist enough for something... anything to happen.

Sakura kept pumping chakra into him, the only thing that kept his own chakra flow alive. And when her chakra would be gone... she didn't know and she didn't want to think. And that would be soon, she could feel it. The others were all around, with the instinct of going there and put their own chakra in the game. But they knew that it wouldn't really help. That it was the only thing keeping him alive and nothing would actually make him better.

With all their attention on Sasuke's chest, where Sakura's shaky hands stood, , they didn't notice the door opening wide and were as surprised as the pinkette to notice a pair of bigger, stronger hands put upon Sakura's, giving up healthy, powerful chakra.

"Shizune, fast, my backpack!" Naruto shouted, the women finally catching up with what was going on,"Search for the tubes with purple liquid! Tsunade said it had to be injected at the back of the head!"

Shizune hastily got out a tube from the backpack Naruto abandoned at Sasuke's feet as soon as he walked in, transfered it, raised Sasuke's head and injected it.

Immediately after that, she got back to the backpack and handed Ino and Hinata six more tubes, "To those six ones due in two days, so they could finally get some sleep, then come help me get done antidote and share it to all these dozens," then she got out the list of ingredients and a big bottle in which she recognized the rare brewed plant, gasping for a moment, "Tsunade-sama, this is incredible even for you!"

* * *

It was a bright, endless place. Everything was numb. He couldn't feel an inch of his body. He couldn't hear a sound, nor open up his eyes to see. He couldn't think of anything. He didn't have memory of anything. It wasn't a blur. It was simply blank everywhere. Was he dying? Was he dead? But why was he dying? Or why was he dead? And who was he? And why was there an urge to not give up, whether he was dying or already dead? What was he holding onto?

And what was that darkness suddenly coming from all around. The urge of not giving up told him to leave. But how to move if there was nothing, if he wasn't alive? Maybe he was alive? And maybe THAT was death. Fear crept inside as he realized there was no chance to run away as long as the darkness came from everywhere. It was coming at high speed and it was coming to him. And he couldn't die!

Only if the dark shadow would stop... And it did. The darkness unpredictably stopped its rush and it slowly backed away, unpercievably at first, then faster and faster.

What followed was something compared to a tablet of menthol craving on your tongue. It felt as he'd fallen in deep cold waters. He was real. He felt the sweaty hair falling on his forehead, chiliness on his toes and one of his fingers twitch. Air invaded his lungs so violently it hurt. He felt an urge to cover his ears as complete deafness turned into quality, loud noise, but his arms were weak and itchy, like taken to warmness after harsh coolness.

Thoughts invaded an otherwise empty mind. He started connecting voices to memories, with two voices coming into his attention more than the others, materialized in his thoughts in two blurry faces, a blue eyed blonde, in many images, teasing him, fighting him, sustaining him, "you were my first friend"... "my best friend"... "like a brother"..."I'll bring you back to Konoha!".

And the second, green eyed face appeared in many of the images. And every moment of the ones she'd be in, he'd feel a warm feeling that brought him complete happiness or complete hurt. A kiss, a smile, a touch of her hand, a glimse in her eyes, a turn of her head, pink hair flying in the air, the smell of her skin he could almost feel through the image, but also images of tears, him leaving, saying harsh words, hurting her, and the look on her face just almost two weeks ago...

He opened his eyes widely, grimacing when bright light hit his retina for the first time in many days. First things he saw were two pair of hands, laid one on the other on his chest at first, pumping chakra. As soon as he raised his head a bit, awakening, the chakra flow of the hands stopped. The bigger hands, the ones above, backed away. The others stood there, as a relieved breath came from their owner. He turned his head instinctly in the direction of the sound, looking up at her now smiling face. Exhaustion hit him hard, but he was sure that, as he fell asleep, he was smiling, too.

* * *

"We shouldn't and won't start a war with The Land of Plants and I'm telling you why. Getting the Grass Village to ashes ('cause that's how it would end) will only prove them and the rest of the little countries that the Grass was right in their actions and we are the big bad guys..."

"Wait a moment, boy!" the old Tsutchikage interrupted him, "You tell us to just let them be after everything? Do you have brains or dirt in that head of yours? Listen up, I know that you were a big damn hero in the war and they all call you by now the 'strongest man of our days' - and you might as well be , but you're still a young brat with no experience and, certainly, no position to get involved in these discussion, less the right to give us orders!" the old man burst out, waving his hands in the air frantically.

Naruto made an immense effort to keep himself in the place, holding in the instinct of bursting out too, as he'd normally do. Tsunade had always advised him in the mater, telling him his way of thinking was not wrong at all, but it took a bit of self restraint and tone discipline to make himself clearly understood in the most dignifying and integer way, so truthful words would always be strengthened with authority. So knowing Uzumaki Naruto so well, none of them expected his next words or the way his ideas were expressed:

"I should apologize if it sounded as an order. It's no order. It's advice. Piece of advice that, yes, I really have the position to give. I didn't have the chance to say I'm officially and legally Hokage of Konohagakure. So please bear with me." As he said that, he got off the cloak on his shoulders, which kept him warm on the way there, revealing the Hokage robes. At the beginning of spring, there were blizzards with icy cold wind on the coast side of the country. And that was where the Kages decided to meet.

"Concerning the matter we are discussing, I was just trying to point out that for the little countries, with less power, we are the big damn powerful alliance they couldn't compete with - and that is true - and just going out there and taking down one of them is the sign they are waiting for. The sign that would tell we consider them some scum we could easily clear off our shoulders any moment. They live with this thought since the 4th war, I'm sure of it. So are we going to become that fearful thing?"

Killer B was mouth dropped and speechless in his seat. No way to rap his reaction. The Tsutchikage was troubled even since the loudest and most irritable ninja ever known since A's death started with the calm 'I should apologize...'. That was, indeed, the #1 most unpredictable ninja. The Mizukage was not prepared for this either. Only Gaara was smiling knowingly, his chin rested on his crossed fingers, looking all 'I was totally waiting for him to do something like that'.

"If no other has anything to add," Gaara started, politely letting them a few moments to do so, although he knew well they won't say a thing, "I'll be the first to comment our fellow Hokage's opinion. I think the right is on his side. We should not start a war. Of course, we lost lives in this silent conflict. A total of almost fifty, I think. And still... Shall I remember you how many lives were lost in the conflict that brought us together as allies? Of course, it was not a conflict between us, but we all know that if that war hadn't started, we wouldn't have gotten this way - united.

"I think it was partly our fault. We made this huge step to world peace, then closed the circle as if we are some select club and this peace was restricted for the less powerful. And it scared them. This is the time they've been waiting for - see what our intentions are. We destroy Grass, then in everyone's eyes we seek for world domination."

"Then what do you youngsters expect then? Play stupid and maybe give them a prize?" the Tsutchikage shouted ironically, once again irritated.

"We're just saying that the decission we take now will affect the way the future of this world will develop," Naruto concluded, holding himself from adding a 'dattebayo'.

"The dudes said their thesis

So we need to hear:

We want 'em respect us

Or want 'em to fear?"

Killer B summed things up simply and to the point. It was time to decide.

* * *

Taking into consideration Naruto's talking speed, it took him only ten minutes to describe Shizune everything about the Kage meeting. She congratulated him on becoming Hokage and he already went on talking about it.

" ...Tsunade-baachan made me read this looong contract on a Hokage's duties and rights, and kept bragging on about how I aaaalways need to read these damn papers entirely before signing."

"One day, you'll sell the village and send us all into slavery and you won't even know it, dobe."

Sasuke was at the door, sustaining himself by the wall. The raven haired seemed to have lost much weight and even though he was standing up, his legs were staying in an uncomfortable position, looking not strong enough to carry his remaining weight. Big black circles surrounded his eyes. He looked bad. Yet there he was now, on two feet, acting casually.

"Teme!" Naruto gave up on any integrity that his new function brought and jumped on the other side of the room, putting his arms around his best friend's neck, choking him to death and destroying the little balance the raven haired still possessed. Shizune went out in the meantime, heading to her office, leaving the two discuss the last news. She had to send Tsunade the report on how the Kages meeting went.

"I knew you wouldn't die just like that, teme!"

"And so you're trying to kill me NOW?" He tried to take off the blonde's arms, but no chance on that. Not when Naruto was so strong. Not when he was currently so weak.

"Whatcha say, teme?" Naruto asked, unaware of the other youth's discomfort.

"That your concern and carry are killing me. Literally!" he snapped, Naruto finally letting go, hitting him in what was supposed to be a friendly way, but probably dislocated his shoulder.

"I guess I don't know my own strength sometimes," Naruto scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"You don't say," was all Sasuke said, rubbing his shoulder and hoping it was just a bruise, while mumbling something like 'just wait until I get better'. At least he could blame it on the dobe if Sakura noticed. And she probably would. In the last two weeks, she'd been all overprotective. And he hated it. He hated to be powerless when HE should be the one defending her. He hated to see her so worried. He hated to see the black circles under her eyes, knowing she hadn't sleep well for so long because of the worries. Worries for him.

"Teme?"

"Ah?" It seemed like the shoulder wasn't dislocated, thanks Kami.

"You're my subordinate again, dattebayo!" Naruto pointed to his coat, turning his back to show proudly the writing: "Rokudaime". Not a surprise. Yet, one side of his mouth curved up, feeling a strange warmth inside his chest. It was the very first time he felt such pride for someone else's achievement.

"I'm way too much under you for you to be a constant pain at least," was his way of congratulating.

When Naruto was just becoming a Jounin, Sasuke was still a 'damn Genin' and he couldn't get away from Naruto's bragging on that for a year and a half, the time it took him to advance to Jounin. Just a while after, he joined ANBU, so he wouldn't have to be called part of 'Team Naruto' whenever he was stuck with his best friend and that Sai. He and Naruto were really close now, but that didn't always make up for the way he could get on his nerves sometimes.

"The ANBU Captain is right under my orders."

"I'm not Captain, bakka."

"Yet."

Sasuke looked at his friend surprised, easily realizing what was on Naruto's mind.

"Captain Yamato is gone since the war and although he does a good job, I don't think Kakashi-sensei likes it on that spot," Naruto's voice turned strangely serious, what some would call later Hokage-like posture.

"As self-conceited as I am, I still realize I'm too young," Sasuke answered with visible sincerity.

"And how old they say your new Hokage is?" Naruto commented.

"I hate to admit this, but we know well that, in many ways, you are more mature than me." There was a short exchange of glances.

"Turning down my offer?"

"Delaying it."

"You shouldn't be up," a third voice interrupted them. Naruto gave Sasuke a last unperceptible nod concerning the previous matter and turned to the new come.

"Geez, Sakura-chan, let him stay a little longer for my sake!" he smiled widely at her, putting his hands on his hips.

"Naruto?" Sakura turned to him, at first surprise, then joyful. Looking closer, she saw the blonde hair and blue eyes under that hat and said, "I get it you're proud of it, but wouldn't you let the hat down when you're with us? I didn't even know it was you!"

"Nani? Sakura-chan, Tsunade-baachan never dressed up in the official robes, so who else could wear the Konoha Hokage's clothes?"

"I wasn't attentive at that, bakka. Congratulations, but when did it happen?"

"Baachan was just being said about the meeting for the Grass matter, planned to be taken in Suna and stuff. And anytime these meetings were outside the village I represented her. So I went to her to take some damn permission she has always given me to sign stuff in her place. And while she was writing the freaking permission, she suddenly let the pen down and murmured something like 'Why the Hell am I even bothering?' and stood up and got out this package and a scroll. There were these," and he pointed to his Hokage robes, "which she said she had 'em prepared for a while now. The scroll was a contract I had to sign for my naming. She got me reading all the damn long contract. She wouldn't give me the robes until I read it all. And damnit, I was through so much to get here! Couldn't let some reading get in my way, dattebayo..."

By the time Naruto was finishing his rambling, Sakura got to notice her boyfriend still rubbing his shoulder. She narrowed her eyes. She knew.

"His fault!" Sasuke defended himself, pointing at a clueless Naruto.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey, what about I give you the recipe for the antidote? Of course, you also need to go to the Hidden Grass, steal some tracking plant protected by law and hope you don't get killed in the process. Just ask for directions on Google Maps or something like that. If Frodo found Mordor, you can find Hidden Grass, too. Remember, as a ninja you have to percieve the unpercievable. And, Hell, Harry Potter run to a wall and still got to Hogwarts at last. You just have to try. I did. I mean, not going through a wall... I tried Harry Potter spells. _You know that's as stupid as running into a wall..._ Oh, shut up! Nevermind...

However, in case you feel like you have problems with this kind of poison, don't go to the medic, consult a psychologist, because you're not poisoned. You're just Naruto addict.

And one of the conflicts is gone. I hope you didn't think things would be peaceful forever after now, did you?

Anyways, today I'll teach you guys how to post reviews! Because I was thinking... Why don't all these readers (thanks for the 1800 views, though) post reviews? Of course! Poor children don't know how to do it, duh! So listen/ read this carefully, guys:

At the bottom of the chapter (not the very bottom of the page, just bottom of the chapter), you'll find this square. Two, actually. The little one says "Post as:". There would be your username, but you can post anonymously, not big deal. Under that is a bigger square. There, you write a review. Example: "Not that bad, but who the hell is Naruto?" Then, you simply click Post review. Done!

And this is how you post a review. Now that I cleared this for you there's no way you won't post some from now on, right? Eerr... right?

But, really, leaving the joke behind please take a minute to post a review. There are all of these views for each chapter, but sometimes no review at all, mostly only one. I get it people maybe just look at it once and like it not. So, if you do find it ok, just write a simple sentence: "It's not completely horrible, though." That would be just enough. Thanks.


	10. Flowers on a grave

Even three years after, Hinata couldn't really make out how the events went by as soon as she came back home. Those first nine months passed just like that, with her hiding away more than anything. And right after, everything went hectic for more than a year. She was forced out of her mind, forced to be strong. And she was thankful for that. It's been tough, but it has made her grow in her own eyes.

"Things may have not turned out as you'd expected, eh, otousan?"

Placing the flowers gently, she looked down at her right hand, one of her fingers carrying something shiny and something golden not since long ago.

At first, she kept them hidden, wearing kimonos with long, large sleves. Being married, she was was more happy than ever before, but she hated to have answer to everyone's same questions: "What? When? Who? How?" Only a few close ones had known about their relationship and even fewer had found about their marriage immediately. But none of them had been there when they married.

Being public figures, it was harder for them to keep and have their private lives, but they managed it just fine. But Naruto had always been innovative and carefree. He always made everything seem simple, making her feel everything could be and was perfect. He supported her through anything, advicing her, yet letting her take the decissions. Naruto may not have been the perfect man, but he was perfect FOR HER. They completed each other. He was loud and she was quiet. He was easily outbursting, while she kept her calm anytime. He was playful and she was tender. They kept each other confident and strong. Even before becoming a couple...

At their arrival, those three years ago, in Konoha were already being made preparation for the conference with a delegation of Grass and for the Hokage inauguration.

Hinata heard from people close to the Mizukage of the high impression Naruto had made in his first meeting as official Hokage of Konoha. She was very proud of his naming. Though, she may have been the last to find out.

At that time, they were at the beginning period of the tea invitations. She wouldn't dare to go and talk to him directly. However, she was excusing herself, repeating 'there was no time for that'. Indeed, he entered that hospital door, helped Sakura, given Tsunade's instructions and was out right after, heading for the meeting, while Hinata rushed outside to her patients. Still, as she was hurrying down the corridor, they crossed paths and, for no more than a second, exchanged a glance. She could swear there had been a slight nod and a shadow of a smile from his part.

While she and the others were still been kept busy with the patients, he came back in Kiri once more to check on Sasuke and left a few hours later towards Konoha. Hinata only found out about his presence from Sakura, after he had been long gone:

"He wears those robes with so much pride, I didn't know whether to be proud, too, or hit him to get those fumes out of his head," Sakura joked afterwards with them.

"So I guess you did both," Ino said from the other side of the room, while measuring some of the precious tracking plant in a graded can.

"Are you serious?" Sakura laughed, "Have you ever read the penalties for even attempting to injure a Hokage?"

But she hoped that, even though he'd be much busier now, she could restart inviting him over for tea, so she could speak to him in private. Well, hear HIM speak, mostly. But that was everything she needed, really. Between the hospital work and the missions, it was the only thing that made her pleasure nowadays. At home, she was usually more than ignored. Hiashi and Hanabi had been all occupied and kept so the entire family. Not even Neji had time for her nowadays. He had a wife now and a lot of work. In their remaining free time, Neji and Tenten would work on decorating their new house.

At least, Hiashi had nothing against Naruto's visits. Hinata guessed it was because he, as anyone else, knew Naruto would be Hokage one day. He'd want to keep the family in friendly relations. Welk, at least that made her have an input within the family.

Sometimes, she'd think of how would things have turned out if she had been the heiress. She didn't know if she could deal with the work, with taking decisions and having all that power. Yet, that was not the scary part. The worst was having other people's lives in her hands, taking decisions concerning other people's lives, destinies. And that...

She shivered, recalling that sound... the sound of someone she had known brain's explode. In the war. To keep the secrets of the family. Secrets within a Hyuuga's body. That. That was something you wouldn't want to have on your shoulders. There had not been blood or exploding flesh, which she was thankful for. Of course, as a medic nin, she wouldn't have normally minded that, but this was a whole new level. There had still been the sound. The sound which she had known moments before, seeing her father performing the seals over the corpse, was the sound of brains exploding inside a relative's head. And that was a family member she had barely known... But what if it had been Neji then? No, no, she wasn't made for that!

But what was she made for, really? Sometimes, she couldn't help but wonder. Everyone else walked before her, with a target in life, with the answers of who they were, what they had to do, what their destiny was, it all lied in their open hands, visible in the horizon. And where was she going? Did she have her place somewhere there, next to them?

These thoughts invaded her head, not for the first time, as they aproached Konoha's gates. They were waited. All of them. Hinata, Ino, Shizune, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, the Tsuchikage, the Kazekage and the Mizukage with their guards, followed by all the shinobi who had been poisoned and sent to Kiri.

Their families were there. And a few of curious ones. At first. Then some more came. And others. And a lot more. Because they didn't recognize the one wearing Hokage robes as the last head in the Hokage monument. Instead, it was their well-known hero, Uzumaki Naruto. And it took no long for his name to be shouted out loud by the civilian crowd. Of course, they knew some conference between the countries would take place. The Hokage inauguration had been a less known about event. The shinobi knew about it. The oldest wouldn't care much - they'd lived to see three or four Hokages. The mid-old ones were proud of his achievement. The ones that were also his friends were happy, but carrying that bit of amusement anyone would at finding out their silliest and loudest of their old friends became president, the big boss.

Neji was also at the gate. But something about him didn't seem alright. Not at all. And why was he wearing black?

No. That couldn't be...

**A/N:** As _LadyOfMist92_ pointed out, this story is supposed to be Hinata centered and, indeed, in the last chapters there has been more SasuSaku than anything of that. But, as I told her, too, from now on the story is moving back around Hinata. So, for the ones who followed this story for SasuSaku only, the Unfollow button is… Wha… What am I even doing?! No, wait! Know what? I have NO idea where that is. Pppfff... you wouldn't want that! It's a creepy place, though. It's a virus… yeah, yeah… Don't try that, it's dangerous! Know what? I can do it, actually… If you want to, I can get Sasuke or Sakura walk randomly and with no special purpose in and out the room/place where the action is taking place. How about that? Sasuke and Sakura everywhere!


	11. And all night long, the rain came down

That day and until night came, Naruto was assaulted with congratulations, festivities lasting all the way.

With a drink in his hand, he was making his way through the crowd, stopped here and there by people wanting to talk to him. He was looking for his two best friends and, unconsciously, for some well known bluish black hair. None were in the view. Instead, he observed Konohamaru in a corner, looking rather gloomy.

"Eh, Konohamaru, sad I was the one to take the Hokage hat?" he joked, approaching the younger man.

Konohamaru flinched, gotten out of his thoughts, then sobered again, "Iie, Naruto," he made an attempt to smile, but it was obvious he was trying hard. "Congratulation, by the way. Sorry for not showing much enthusiasm, but I am really happy for you. I just have... some things on my mind."

"Things you could share with me?" Naruto offered.

"Some other time, maybe," Konohamaru answered with a real smile, taking a drink from a waiter, " Tonight we're celebrating," he raised his drink in toast, as Naruto waved back to Sakura who, dressed in a beautiful red kimono and followed by a much better looking now Sasuke, seemed to had been looking for him, too.

* * *

She could barely remember afterwards whatever was it Neji told her on the way home. Though, she was thankful he did accompany her. She felt dizzy. She felt weak. As if the very first moment she'd be alone, she'd fall on her knees and lay there for eternity. She knew Neji was explaining how things had happened, or better said, how things had complicated in Hiashi's case, but she couldn't catch a single word. Sasuke and Sakura walked past them and she heard Neji saluting back, but that was all she could recall of that walk home.

Entering the house, she was once more alone. Neji might have told her the reason, but it was all an enigma for her why there was an obvious coolness between him and Hanabi, for each he preferred to not enter the house.

Stepping inside, it felt as if she entered a stranger's house. It seemed cold and empty and when she met Hanabi on her way and they just gazed at each other in silence for a short while before both to decide to follow their way just like that, it felt like she was abandoned on an iceberg in the middle of the ocean. It felt like there was nothing she could hang on to. Like she belonged to no one and nothing anymore. It was just her, alone.

Entering her room and closing the door behind her, she finally let herself fall to her knees, her arms hanging weakly. Tears, one after another, fell on the dark floor. Her mind went black and soon enough the rest of her body met the floor, too.

* * *

The next day she skipped eating. That was the beginning of a long lasting habit. She lost some weight in that period, but not really much, as the days she wouldn't eat at all, feeling sick, were mainly compensated by the days she'd eat constantly, trying to feel a void that was not in her stomach.

She went out the house only for her hospital shifts and spent the rest of the time alone in her room. Neji was not coming to the Hyuuga Manor anymore, so she didn't get to see him. She'd avoid Naruto if it happened for him to be in the hospital and never invited him to tea again. She trained sometimes, but nowadays she lacked the energy to do it for long. Her sister, the very and one and only Head of the family now, spent most of her time alone, too, with her work.

The little time Hinata spent outside, she wandered with no purpose through the trees, alone. She walked a mile, two, ten, until dark came or her feet's pain was as bad as to break through her indifference. Because all she got to feel was indifference. Her mind was in that state of depression when even the littlest thing seems to be a tragedy, so your brain, as defense to continuous trauma, closes your feelings in and becomes indifferent to anything. Hinata continued to work exemplary at the hospital, but she looked at her patients with the same amount of emotion as if they were a bunch of chairs.

That evening, it looked as if it was going to rain. Grey clouds coated the wide sky. But she didn't mind. As response to an impulse, she walked out the room as usual, not even considering getting more substantial clothing, and out the house, aiming the forest. It was late evening, sunset's light barely creeping in. Yet she walked out the house, not realizing it. Big drops started falling down, just a few at first, then filling the open air, falling down her skin, soaking her clothes. But she kept moving aimlessly, not giving a damn.

She was cold, shivering. She didn't know what path she was walking. She only looked down, following with her eyes the steps she was taking. Not counting or something. Just looking at her feet, not thinking of anything in special. At a corner of her eyes, she absently noticed a source of light that came and went. Probably a lightning.

Suddenly, her feet stopped. Her eyes widened, first time she observed something before her eyes that well. An edge. She walked until reaching the edge of a cliff. She stopped her walking just in time and just stood there, eyes widened, not moving a bit.

She had almost died. Just like that. Just that simple. Just a pure mistake. She took a step back and that was when reality hit her. It wasn't hurt anymore, just that general indifference she'd felt lately. And now it was indifference of life, of anything that might lie ahead, if ahead of her was there actually anything. There was indifference for family, for friends, for people in general, for the village and for the world (she took the step forward again), for the sun, the now hidden by grey clouds stars and for that damn lightning appearing again!

"Hinata-chan, what are you doing in the rain?"

She turned, surprised at first. After all, that was no lightning. It was Hiraishin.

"I walked too far from home and got caught outside by the rain," the lie came naturally and emotionless, not accompanied by a stutter, as normally around the blonde man before her. Those blue eyes meant as little as anything else to her at the moment. The man before her was just another chair, or rather a wall, a wall standing now between her and death, between her and freedom, between her and free death.

"But the rain has been going on for almost two hours. How far have you been and so late, Hinata-chan?" the man asked, concerned, yet oblivious to the truth connected to the girl standing alone, at night, at the edge of a cliff.

A soaked in water Sasuke came from the distance, reaching the Hiraishin in quite a little while, but panting and swearing, while the blonde was just perfectly alright.

"You kept me...huff...training almost two hours...huff...in the rain and... now you can't fucking...huff...wait for me...huff...too?" the raven haired muttered breathlessly.

"Well, you'll have to keep it alone from now, too, teme. I'll carry Hinata-chan home instead. She's freezing," Naruto replied and just then Sasuke also caught sight of the girl, standing there in the rain. His stare made Hinata think he saw some things past the freezing.

"Sure," he nodded, not taking his observing gaze off of her as he left alone.

In the meantime, Naruto took down his backpack and opened it, getting out his Hokage coat, which seemed dry, unlike all Naruto's clothes on him. He had probably kept that in a shelter as he and the other young man had trained, Hinata thought as she felt the dry, warm coat put on her shoulders. Just then she realized how cold she really was, starting to tremble visibly.

Naruto took her up and the next moment she saw things moving fast around her. Without realizing, she laid her head, which felt too heavy to hold anymore, on him.

The young man entered the Hyuuga property and climbed to the window she once told was her room and placed her easily on the bed.

"You look really tired, Hinata-chan, but you should still get up and change your wet clothes," Naruto advised her kindly, but the girl shook her head. She gave no damn. All she wanted was to be alone, "Well, you'll get sick, dattebayo," he said, covering her with anything he could fine and closing the window for now, "Is there anyone I could call to take care of you?"

"Don't. They must be sleeping. Everyone in this house goes to sleep early. Excepting Hanabi. But she has work to do," she answered automatically, in a weak voice.

"Ne, and what if you'll get a fever?" Naruto shook his head in disapproval, getting a chair and sitting next to the bed. "I'll stay here for a while to make sure you'll be ok. In case of anything, I get you to the hospital," he declared, crossing his legs on the chair.

"I haven't seen you in the last three months, Hinata-chan? How are you? I heard about Hiashi-sama's death just a couple of days after we came back. I'm really sorry for that. As Sasuke had once pointed out, I don't have the right to say I know how that feels. Because I didn't have parents to begin with and I don't know what losing them actually means. But I can realize it's tough."

Why was he talking about that? Why would he talk about it? Three months? There had been three months?

But she didn't want to talk. Not at all. Not about that. Not about anything. But Naruto kept talking. He comforted her for her loss, talked about his new job and said that new graduates would come out the academy soon and how he had to hold a speech. With no connection at all, he offered her to become sensei for one of the teams. She needed to occupy her time with things so she could feel better, he said. From time to time, he checked her forehead for fever. When his hand touched her skin, she felt her face warming up, like in the old days.

Slowly, his words started getting to her. His natural charisma made her feel relaxed, somehow relieved. His twinkling eyes were again breathtaking. And, at least for that night, things were good.

She fell asleep three hours into Naruto's monologue. He checked her forehead once more before getting out closing the window carefully behind him.

And all night long, the rain came down.

* * *

The next morning she woke up tired, but a bit more clear-minded than usual. But she wasn't well yet. She wasn't going to be really well until she found what she was looking for. And she had no idea what she was looking for. But training a Genin team was a good enough motivation for now.

Taking the coat that had covered her through the night, she headed to the Hokage tower to check the future Genin teams list.

* * *

**A/N:** What have I told you? Sasuke and Sakura everywhere! In case you thought I was joking. But, well, leaving that behind, this was a serious, serious chapter. I hope you won't like this less than my funny side. I updated quite fast again, but, again, I have no idea when further update might come next week. It seems the weekends are really productive, so probably next weekend?

**PS:** OH MY... HOLLY BABY JESUS! Almost 1000 views in one day? Thabk you so much, guys! You are so the best! I'm getting back to wrting so I could have some goody fresh updates next week's end. Many thanks again!


	12. The little things, people say

"Miss Hyuuga is waiting, Rokudaime," a Chunin announced him through a crack of the door.

"Tell Hanabi I'm not here," Naruto mumbled, signing some papers.

"The other Hyuuga lady, sir."

"Oh," Naruto looked up at the boy, "Old friends don't need permision to enter. Just announce them. You are new, arent you? I'll make you a list of these people. Now let Miss Hinata in."

"Understood, sir."

Hinata entered, a bit shyly at first. She hadn't been there since Naruto was the one in charge. There were some changes. The shelves with medical books were gone and Naruto had the once dull looking walls painted orange. There were some beautiful, elegant matching curtains which she would find later were a present from Sakura for his new function. On the left wall, there was a newly constructed line of wooden shelves, matching the new desk, one under another. They were labelled A, B, C and D, containing their respective scrolls. Scrolls with missions, she guessed. On the right wall were the photo of team seven and a photo with a blonde man, holding tight a very beautiful woman with unusual red hair.

"My parents," Naruto told her, observing her lasting attention for the photo. "Kakashi-sensei's present. And Sasuke was the one to paint the walls if you were wondering. They say I am unpredictable, but, as for me, Sasuke's daily next reaction is the biggest enigma. Please, sit," he pointed a chair in front of his desk, carelessly pushing away the papers in front of him. "How are you now? Did you get sick in the end? You don't look all healthy? Are you sure you don't want to get a consult at the hospital?"

"N-no, N-n-naruto-kun. H-h-here," she handed him the coat. He took it a bit surprised as in 'I was wondering where that was' and hung it by the back of his chair.

"I guess you came for more than to give this back, eh? Did you think about sensei-ing around?" he said brightly, turning back to her.

"Y-yeah. W-w-well, i-if there a-a-are s-s-still t-teams a-available. I-I-I m-mean, t-they are usually g-given away long before graduating... like, kind of placing bets on their future aptitudes before, so Jounin usually have idea what they're dealing with, except for their personalities, of course." Gradually, she managed to talk normally and profesionally, which raised her moral a bit.

"Well, actually... I kinda put a team away for you," Naruto winked, getting out a folder out his drawer and pushing it to her. Her hands trembled a bit as she picked up the files to look through. The kids were all eleven, but acording to their potential, they'd all three graduate that July. There was a lot to expect from each.

"T-they're extraordinaire," she said, sparks of enthusiasm really getting to her.

"Ne, Hinata-chan, now you won't have the time to walk as far as to get caught for hours in the rain," Naruto added, no harm intended, yet she felt all guilty the next second."But know what, Hinata-chan, if it still happens, I have another solution. How about I teach you Hiraishin?"

* * *

Naruto was the kind that acted on instinct, not questioning his reasoning much. He had no idea why he offered himself to teach someone his precious Hiraishin, but he felt all good about it.

Of course, Hinata at first thought it was a joke. Furthermore, she protested, but Naruto always managed to convice people he was right in his beliefs. He put together all the pros of Hiraishin, though the actual question of why would SHE be taught that was never properly answered.

However, the training started soon. This, the hospital work and ,soon, her first Genin team kept her mind and body ocupied throughout the day. Just when she was finally at home, in her bed, the old matters came back into her thoughts. The insecurities, the hopelessness, feeling useless and aimless, they came back to the surface. So, in the morning, it became harder to wake up and deal with life. She was waking up as the zombie she'd been in those three months, having a cold shower and went on to the things that kept her motivated. She got home feeling almost good. Then she went to bed. It started all over again.

"N-n-naruto, what h-happened w-with G-g-grass?" She asked at a moment. She felt really stupid for asking, as it had been months ago and everyone else must have known by then the littlest details, but she felt like she needed to know. Naruto didn't comment a thing on why wouldn't she have known already.

"Old Tsuchikage began by telling them about how much of a mess they had caused and how they deserved the worst from us. At that, Gaara came in between to outline the fact that our alliance seeks only general peace, and not through war, and it was stupid from their part to go on and asume so, and also let action take course. Well, it went on for countless hours. Naturally, they were also seeking for peace with us. They knew it was the best for them. Actually, they seemed relieved. I swear they looked more as if being unexpectedly awarded. However, they said something rather thoughtful..." Naruto's face turned grave, something unusual - it was a serious matter.

"W-what is it, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked around cautiously, then something more unusual for him, he talked under his breath, "Well, they said what happened was just the beginning of something. Not even they know what. But it seems I was right about it. Kusa was not the only little country to observe we're part of a too great power. And Grass wasn't the head of this. They're happy to be at shelter now. But the bigger deal is... they say those who lead this have information from the inside - help from someone part of one of the five allies."

Hinata was so caught in what he said, she didn't even realize how close he was now. Suddenly aware of his breath on her cheek, she reddend, yet she kept herself steady, wanting to find out more. "So are now the Kages even suspecting each other?" By some miracle, she managed not to stutter.

"That, too. Also, we've decided to act clueless for now and send messengers to these countries, to see if we can solve it as easy as in Grass' case."

"And?"

"They all answered the'd THINK about meeting us. We suppose they want to consult each other, or they're just buying time. I bet on the second. I just don't know, time for what?"

* * *

One day, Neji came at the manor. It surprised her, not only because he had avoided it for some matter between him and Hanabi, but also because she realized just then she hadn't seen him in such a long while. She mentioned that and he agreed, promising to start visiting more, nevermind Hanabi, because it seemed they barely met otherwise. How was it possible for them to not cross paths in that whole village? At that, she chose to not mention on how she had barely walked out that place for so long, and when she had, she had wandered through the woods.

Naruto started visiting again - uninvited. With the training, the tea drinking and going to get missions with her team, Naruto was the person she spent most of her time with now. She got used to him and didn't stutter anymore in his presence... mostly.

Lately, he looked like he didn't get much sleep. It seemed that a response from the countries kept being delayed. Tension grew between the Kages as it continued being a mystery. In a personal conversation, Gaara said he suspected there was no traitor at all, that Grass was still working for the others and were now trying to get them one against each other. The Tsuchikage saw them and shouted out that they were probably comploting together. It took them a couple of hours to explain him (and convice him) what it was really all about.

Concerning what Gaara had said, Naruto believed it wasn't like that. From the Grass' representants' reactions, he believed they were more than happy to severe any ties with the conspirators as soon as that meant coming to the big guys' they were afraid of side.

Hinata tried to find the best ways to advice him and gave her best in their training. She was telling him constantly that he shouldn't waste time on that when he had so much on his mind and constantly he was replying it was no waste at all. So she tried to at least be a good student and not disappoint him.

When the time to meet her new team came, she was extremely nervous. She was sure she'd make the worst possible impresion.

"You know what reputance Kakashi-sensei have always had in the ninja world and how he almost became Rokudaime?" Naruto was telling her the evening before, as they were heading for tea after the training. "Well, he came hours late, getting caught in the silliest trick - we couldn't believe we were stuck with such a guy. Well, that was the worst possible impresion. But you'll do just fine," he promised her, before a messenger to come ask for his presence, so he had to give up on the tea that day.

Continuing her walk alone, dark thoughts started showing up again. She kept telling herself if she'd mess up her introduction to the Genin team, she'd be a total failure. But wasn't she a failure already? Well, she could at least be...( and she looked back in the direction Naruto disappeared) A PROUD FAILURE.

* * *

**A/N:** I said I won't post too soon now. So what am I doing here? I don't know, dude... I don't know... The keyboard is using me for its evil plans, I swear. Guys, if anything suspicious happens, dhfjghd bdhfgfgbh gnghfh fhsdlkh hdhdhdjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj jj...


	13. Expecting

She walked straight in the class, head high, mentally sighing before turning to introduce herself, "Hello, kids. My name is Hyuuga Hinata. From now on..."

"We know who you are, Hinata-sensei," one of the boys jumped in his seat, with a wide smile, showing off a midline. He was brown-haired, had dark colored eyes and seemed to be the tallest of the three. "Kenji's cousin, Tenten, talks a lot about you," he pointed at the other boy of the team, who must have been Kenji.

Kenji nodded. He had brown hair, too, same color as Tenten, but light blue eyes. "Oh, oh, Hinata-sensei, is it true Naruto-sama himself teaches you Hiraishin? Tenten told us Naruto-sama said so."

"That's so cool," the other boy shouted out again. "And she told it took Naruto-sama years to perform that jutsu. But Naruto-sama said Hinata-sensei advances really fast and she's going to finish it much faster," the boy nodded to himself. Was it so?

"But enough about me," Hinata interrupted him when he was about to start talking again. Well, at least she could skip the awkward self-introduction. "Tell me a few things about you."

But, really, what could Tenten say about her to make the kids so enthusiastic? She couldn't recall there being any good stories about her. She was quite dull. And did Naruto really mean she was going that great, or was he trying to help her make a good impresion?

"My name is Ito Kei," the talkative boy started, sitting up. "I'm going to a fierce, respected ninja one day and these two ones' boss," he pointed jokingly to his teammates who rolled their eyes and catching him by one shoulder each, seated him back down.

"My name is Nakashima Kenji," Tenten's cousin said, staying relaxed in his spot. "I'm the second in my family, after Tenten, to become a ninja. And I'd rather eat dirt than be his subordinate," he pointed skeptically to Kei.

"And I'm Takahashi Hana and I can't wait to get rid of these idios," the girl of the group sighed, sustaining her head in her hands, elbows on her knees, brought together.

Well, there could appear problems in team work...

* * *

"How was it?" Naruto asked when joining Hinata, who was already doing her warming up.

"They're some awesome kids. And, strangely, they think I could also be an awesome sensei. There's just one thing that disappointed them."

What's that?" he asked, taking out special kunais for Hiraishin.

"One of them, Tenten's cousin, found out from her that, before finding out you'd be Hokage so soon, you planned on getting this team yourself."

"Well, it seems that, going to her as her cousin Kenji, the enemy would get anything out of Tenten. That's a tragedy knowing Tenten also gets anything out of people like me. A few days ago, I had some drinks at their place and I don't really remember what I talked about, so could you ask Kenji if, by any means, he knows my blood type, weak points or bank account?" he joked.

The training started. Yet there were other things she would have wanted to know. Like why her? Was she the first choice? Wasn't there anybody else available for this team? But she knew herself more than five Jounins waiting in line for a Genin team. So why her?

Why her to get his team? Why her to learn Hiraishin? Why her to have his company every single evening? Why her?

* * *

The scary zeros that Jirayia had passed to Naruto as surely as his Sennin Mode, enabled him to buy and decorate a big, beautiful house not too far from the Hokage tower, and still remain with more than half of the money. Anyways, the sum was increasing every year, as Jiraiya's books were still selling really good, maybe even better than when he was alive.

Sakura played a big part in decorating, making choices with good taste for the most of the house, except three of the four bedrooms.

"One day, you will maybe have children and I'm surely not the one to choose in that case," Sakura told him the day the rest of the house was finished arranging.

"What's 'maybe' supposed to mean, Sakura-chan?"

"It's supposed to mean you should work less and get a damn life," Sakura voiced out loud a thing she and Sasuke had discussed constantly in the last months, since their bestfriend had been barely visiting them.

But Naruto couldn't understand how he could give up on anything he was working on at the moment. There was the usual training in the morning, the usual Hokage work, the training with Hinata and the tea afterwards, and, of course, sleeping. He couldn't see how he could give up on any of these. These had become more of a must for his routine, despite what Sakura was saying.

Though, having a family was all he had ever dreamed of. He could actually see a faceless dark-haired woman passing by, and down the stairs, hand in hand with a little child, rebel blonde hair on the head, sweet laughing from the lips. The vision of that was divine. Laughs and footsteps of little humans, being all his, filling the silence of the house. But that was far from a cold, silent reality that welcomed him instead when entering that place.

So, ever since he moved in, he avoided spending too much time in there.

* * *

That summer also brought news of expecting. One evening, seated at their usual tea, both Naruto and Hinata brought up some fresh happy news.

Hinata mentioned how Neji came early that day, bursting with joy, to announce Tenten was pregnant. And they wanted her as the kid's godmother. She was wondering what name she could choose, when Naruto added that the one who really needed help was him. With his poor imagination, the child HE was going to name would curse him for life.

Just the other day, he said, Kakashi-sensei had came to him and Sasuke and Sakura, with whom he was having lunch, to say hi and break the news that he was going to be a father.

At the unexpected, simply said statement, Sakura almost choke on her ramen, Naruto spilled it all over himself and Sasuke remained reactionless for a minute, with his chopstick halfway to his opened mouth.

Kakashi had never mentioned he was dating anyone. Well, after all, that was his life. He and his team were close, but was it enough for their old sensei to share with them details about his love life? Still, he was now telling them about his coming soon parenthood. Maybe they were just still the closest he could talk to. And a baby on the way wasn't some news you can just keep inside.

"Kakashi-sensei, could you at least announce us in time for when the child born? As far as we know you, you could have remembered to tell us when the child graduates," Sakura mentioned after the congratulations.

"That's a promise. Also, I thought that one of you could be his godparent," he took a seat.

"Which one?"

"Naruto."

Naruto got another bowl of ramen spilled over when Ichiraku, finding the news as shoking as the others did, dropped the new one he was bringing.

Of course, Kakashi still didn't mention a thing about the child's mother. Sakura looked somehow concerned throughout the conversation, something Sasuke didn't miss.

"So, who is it?" he asked, seconds after Kakashi had been gone with a puff.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, you know?" Naruto turned, curious.

"Well, I don't think it's all about coincidence. Do you know who was talking about measures during pregnancy? Shizune."

* * *

By the end of the summer, an old friend appeared by the gates of Konoha. Nara Shikamaru had been away, in a long term mission in Suna.

"Thought you'd never come back. Did you get married in there or what?" Choji said as he, Shikamaru and Ino had dinner that day, throwing three or four chops of grilled pork in his mouth.

"Of course not. I'm only engaged," Shikamaru retorted, in a tone he could as well have used to talk about weather, but as serious as possible.

"That was rethorical...," Ino was the first to react.

* * *

"D," Naruto concluded, throwing a scroll into the 'D' location, and taking another scroll from a filled, wide basket. "A," he said after a five minutes reading of that scroll, throwing that, too, in its place.

"Sarutobi Konohamaru," was announced through a half-cracked door, before being opened wide to get the tall, dark-haired young man in.

"How'ya doin', Naruto," he greeted with his usual enthusiasm, but missing the usual twinkle in his eyes.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto sat up happily. "How's it goin'?"

"Ne," the younger scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "I'm actually here to ask tor a favor..."

"Well, what are influent friends good for?" Naruto joked, picking other scroll from the basket and opening it on the desk, without looking down at it. "What trouble did you get into, eh?" he asked brightly.

"Actually, I was thinking you could get me into some trouble," Konohamaru replied with a wink, sitting casually before Naruto's desk.

"Eh?"

"I was thinking of a longer mission, outside of Konoha, ya know, something new," he explained.

Naruto grimaced and loked like thinking hard. Some seconds later, he seemed to have remembered something and sighed. With a bored expression, he moved slowly, rather distresed, to the mission panel and took out a scroll laying somewhere in a distant corner of the A's.

"I was keeping this until I'd think of someone I'd love to see gone for a while. As in someone I don't like, dattebayo, not you!" he threw his hands in the air dramatically, cursing under his breath as handing the scroll.

Konohamaru rolled his eyes, opening the scroll.

"Kiri? Well, I've never been in Kiri, but I guess I'll work this out somehow. Ne, Naruto, wouldn't one of those who had been in Kiri last spring have done this job best?"

"Sasuke is in ANBU. He deals with other stuff. Sakura has too much to deal with in the hospital. Shizune is... unavailable. And Ino has a full schedule with her team," Naruto lectured, yawning.

"What about Hinata?" Konohamaru asked only matter of factly, but Naruto glared at him as he hadn't even given that a thought.

"She has a Genin team to work with," he responded.

"Well, the team would have been able to travel with her. We and Kiri are allies, so the Genins would get their Ds from there. And aren't the Chunin exams there this year anyway? They would have gotten used to the scenery...," Konohamaru was only talking hypothetically, concersationally, without realizing Naruto was getting really pissed off.

"They're too young to get so far from hom for so... Do you want the damn mission or what?" Naruto snapped, not catching a single word of what he was reading now on the opened scroll.

"Take a chill pill, mate," Konohamaru raised his arms in defense, smiling widely. Standing up, he waved goodbye and left.

Five minutes later, all calmed down, Naruto couldn't help but wonder what the hell had been up with him.


	14. Just another lonely hero

"Of course he'd keep it a secret from anyone else, but not from us," Ino was saying, taking care to continously wave her left hand in the air while talking, whether she was bringing her hair behind her ear, playing with her tea cup, or simply mimicing while speaking. Sakura thought she was just enjoying showing off the freshly put ring and it was pissing her off for some reason. Well, but she knew the reason, really. She was jealous. Totally jealous. She was happy for her bestfriend, but she was jealous. Ino and Sai were perfectly together and soon getting married. On the other hand, Sasuke acted all strange lately, even a bit distant, always in a hurry. She didn't know what to think anymore. She was too pissed to be attentive to the conversation. Anyways, the subject was old and it brought up again the words "ring" and "engagement".

Three months before, Ino saw Naruto picking up a ring from the jewelry store. One thing she was sure about, it was an engagement ring. But Naruto didn't mention anything about even dating someone. Not a word about that and it seemed he was going to marry.

Ino was once again putting all her statements together, sure Naruto was hiding it all from them.

"Of course, that's why he visits Sasuke and Sakura so little recently. And don't tell me the 'he'd tell these two' part again! Look at Kakashi and Shizune. No one knew a thing and, apparently, they've been together ever since the war," she was telling the others once again. Temari was for the first time in Konoha since she and Shikamaru had gotten engaged and the girls, Ino, Sakura, Teuten and Hinata, took her out for dinner.

The table was filled with excitement and talking, except for the side where Sakura and Hinata were staying. Sakura was caught in her own thoughts, while Hinata, as the one who didn't went out with the others frequently, was hearing that story for the first time. And she felt hurt and betrayed. It just hit her harshly. She knew that, no matter if that was true, she had no right to be mad at him. After all, there was nothing between them and not a sign there could be. But they were friends, right? They were spending so much time together. He could had told HER something, right? He talked to her about anything. But if not even Sakura and Sasuke knew a thing... Suddenly, she wondered how much closer were Sasuke and Sakura to him. Of course, they'd have mattered more. And once more, she thought of how confusing everything about her and Naruto was and, without realizing it, she was sincerely getting mad and jealous.

"Well, it seems that soon we're be the only ones who are not married, Hinata," Sakura's voice got to her. The pinkette was smiling, but there was something forced about it. Seeing her constantly glance at Ino's ring, Hinata understood she wasn't alone in that. Sakura was also troubled by her own doubts.

The next day, she messed up everything in her training with Naruto. She's been thoughtful during it all and seemed a bit angry for some reason. However, Naruto thought she might just be tired and they finished earlier.

She told herself she couldn't possibly resist that usual hour, or sometimes more, of their tea and talks, so she told him Hanabi asked her help on something for that evening. He seemed, or maybe it was just an impresion, quite disappointed for the moment. Then, with his usual bright smile, he wished good night and good luck with Hanabi. Still, before departing he asked, "Oh, how was the evening with the girls."

"It was nice," was all she said, as she really didn't want to talk, but added immediately,"Though, Sakura seemed quite sad... well, not sad, but disappointed about something when she heard about Ino's engagement." She had one last hope. Naruto had always answered to her about anything. Hadn't he talked to her about secret governmental issues just a while ago? Maybe he just thought it wasn't something of interest for her. She had to try and open the subject to see.

Suddenly, the number one most unpredictable ninja burst out laughing. He was sitting there, laughing about a serious matter. About one of his best friends. She actually felt like punching that boy she loved so much.

"This guy...," Naruto sighed, but still smiling wide. "I don't know Hinata-chan. I just don't know..." While saying the last part, he soberred, making Hinata all confused. "I'm telling ya, he's such a coward sometimes in the daily life, no one but me would believe the way he actually thinks at times. He does anything fearfully and secretly, and he doesn't realize that's actually what's hurting her. Can you believe he even had ME make the order for the ring and pick it up afterwards? That was three months ago. And so far, he haven't proposed. Can you believe that?" As talking, he was slowly walking towards the gate. Reaching it, he waved goodbye again and walked out.

Well, surely she couldn't believe it. Her lips curved into a smile she couldn't hold and she found herself half-Hiraishing herself to her room with joy.

Naruto, getting home earlier, much too early, found himself in a blank, cold world again. He was used to get home only to sleep, eat and shower there in the morning, and that was all. Now, he found himself with long more hours to come in a wide, deserted place. Yet, it wasn't neither a time to visit anyone. He had to stay there.

He felt hungry, but he wasn't a good cook and the old woman in charge of the place wasn't there, as she was used to only get food done in the morning. Hokage-sama prevented her he wouldn't be there otherwise, so once her cleaning is done, to feel free to go.

He walked to the fridge and was surprised to find in there a lot of healthy food. Did he actually eat such food lately? Truly, if there hadn't been the lunch break, he wouldn't have even had time for his favorite ramen.

The fridge was full. It was Monday and Kishisashi-sama, the old lady, was always getting groceries on Mondays and bringing hot, fresh bread each morning. Fruits and vegetables, and juice, and milk, and eggs, and all these things you can eat in the morning, but not the substancial food he was loking for. And, anyways, he wasn't even able to fry eggs. If there was one thing he missed the missions in which he was stucked between Sai and Sasuke, it was Sai's food. That guy could turn anything into great, tasty food.

He opened different cupboards, finding flour, oil, pasta, noodles, coffee, sugar, teas, freaking plants and seeds he had no idea what they were used for, cereals... Well, cereals would have to do the trick, he guessed. Halfway through eating, he realized he wasn't hungry anymore. Damn, eating alone was bad! Even in the morning, Kishisashi-sama was there to keep him company and she was a really pleasant old woman.

He sat up and went upstairs to his office. He couldn't sleep yet, so checking some things for a couple of hours might have helped. He was still trying to figure out what was going on between the countries. Who was helping them? And why?

He ended up falling asleep in his leather chair, seven hours later. On the edge of falling asleep, he had a revelation about it, but sleep ended up eating the thought. That night, he dreamed fireworks that ended up as a hurricane. Next morning, when Kushisashi-sama found him there, everything he could remember was the dream. He knew it had something to do with his problem, but couldn't remember how. Well, he'd figure that later. Now, he finally had great food and someone to talk to.


	15. Sand pays a visit

Time was flying. Things were changing.

One day of December, Sasuke found the guts to get into the old Uchiha District and visit his old house. He went there alone, without announcing anybody, without even knowing himself where his feet were taking him. And it had him surprised. There was no sadness or hurt, just nostalgia. He realized there were only memories that made him smile nowadays. No ghosts to haunt him.

The room where his parents had been murdered. No resentments. No hate. Just the hurt of thinking they no longer were. Just the hurt of remembering the things his brother had had to get through. After so many years, he could finally open that door of his mind. And he could finally see the good. He could replace the trauma with the moments that had made him happy. With his mother's embraces. Her goodnight kisses. His father's rare smiles. The trainings. And the "As expected from my son". And his brother, long before ANBU, when Itachi still had had time for him.

Finally, there was peace.

Arrangement for the reparation of the manor were started the next day.

* * *

That late autumn, Ino and Sai got married and moved in their own house. At their wedding, Sakura came wearing two beautiful accessories: a legitimately happy, bright smile and a shiny ring, looking elegantly on her left hand.

The wedding was a good reason for the Hokage to have a break and a good time. Yet, that didn't last. Half through the party, he was called at the Hokage tower, at the announcement of 'an important visitor', asking for an emergency meeting.

In his office, he found a thoughtful Gaara, wearing a long, travelling cloak. As soon as Naruto walked in, he sat up, shaking his hand, "I'm sorry to get you from your friends' wedding, but this is an emergency. Of such kind that I should be fast enough to not have my absence noticed."

The initial smile Naruto had when seeing his friend turned into a thin line at Gaara's urgency. That did not sound well at all.

"I won't advice you to be more careful about your safety, because I know you're doing good, no matter what enemy appears," Gaara skipped any introduction as they both sat down, "but you should know to be careful with who you trust," he continued.

"What's really going on, Gaara?" Naruto asked, confused. There couldn't be any good in a secret visit and warning of safety and trusting.

"Listen. We are more than sure it's someone from Konoha." There was no need to mention who the 'someone' was. They knew very well what was it all about.

"By 'we' you mean...?"

"I mean us, the other Kages. And before you ask, yes, the facts that you didn't know and that I'm visiting you in secret are very well connected. Please don't say anything until I'm all finished - my time is limited.

"Two soldiers of our united forces, one of mines and one of Tsuchikage's have found out about a messenger sent two weeks ago to Konoha from one of the little countries. The other Kages did not get to know about it from Konoha, so it was clear we shouldn't have known. And as you probably now understand, the Tsuchikage now thinks you are part of the conspiration. Of course, me and the Raikage know it's not true, but we need to keep informative meetings like this a secret, unless we want to be left out, too, you understand this. Because the Tsuchikage made us promise not a single one more secret thing will be shared with you until everything clears."

There came a moment of silence between the two, Gaara waiting for Naruto's reaction. The things Gaara said awakened many thoughts and feelings inside him, one stronger than all the others, "A traitor is in Konoha," he said thoughtfully.

"Indeed," Gaara nodded, guessing what was on the other young man's mind: everyone he knew was a suspect now.

"And one more thing, " Gaara added. "The Tsuchikage wil be all over you at our annual meeting. Be prepared. Try to figure out something until then," he sat up, covering his head with the cloak's dark hood.

"That would be in like a couple months." Gaara nodded, shaking hands with Naruto once more, before turning to leave.

"I'll use the window, as I did when I came. The subordinate waiting out for me casted a Genjutsu on the guy that called for you. He won't remember I was here," Gaara assured, climbing the window.

"Gaara," Naruto made the Kazekage turn once more to him, "thanks for everything," he said sincerely.

"I trust you at all, my friend," came his response, before junping out and disappearing into the night.

The next day was the day Naruto got to have one less responsibility. It wasn't something to be happy about, as it was a responsibility he enjoyed. Yet, he couldn't help but be excited and proud, as a flash of purple lightning was flying in a circle around him.

"You'll get dizzy," he said with a laugh. "What am I saying? You'll get ME dizzy," he corrected himself, still smiling wide. The flash of light stopped, Hinata's long hair still moving slightly in the air. She was shining with contentment.

"See? It's finally finished! I can't believe it's finished!" Naruto couldn't help but be amused. Hinata was normally a calm, serious person. Not the cold Sasuke type, but seeing her jump with happiness like a little child was still out of place. There was something about her smile that made him wish she'd act so foolishly more. That day, she looked more beautiful than she ever had.

Looking back years from then, Naruto would never remember the exact moment, day or month he'd fallen in love with his wife. But, most probably, that was it.

* * *

That day of March, Hinata resembled his future wife more than ever before. She was radiant. She was determinated, but not bold, carefree and concerned, powerful and soft, full of energy and steady, happy and serious. Above all, she was beautiful. Her eyes were shining. Her lips were red. Her hair was soft. All this scenery was illuminated by her pale skin. She wore her curves more naturally, keeping her shoulders straight and head high, her moves natural, yet elegant. The shy, insecure girl had become a wonderful young lady, yet without leaving the shyness and insecurities all behind.

"You left the party early," she said later, as they were heading home.

"A Hokage is never really off-duty. And, I swear, that wasn't noted in the contract."

Ignoring his attempt to joke, she turned serious, "What happened?"

Naruto recalled Gaara's words, to take care with who he put his trust into. He avoided even telling Sakura and Sasuke about it. It's not that he didn't trust them, but he felt like it was his problem to deal with. Yet, keeping something in yourself is damaging. He stopped and looked at Hinata, who stopped too.

"I'm troubled and I don't know if I want to solve this, Hinata-chan..." He sighed and went on in a low voice, "Yesterday, Gaara visited. And it's no good..."


	16. Fireworks (Hanabi, in Japanese)

**A/N:** Before you start, don't freak out because of the first part of the chapter, which you may recognize. Yes, it's from chapter 3, "One week". I felt like beginning this way, to connect things better. Just a few things are changed or added.

* * *

"He, I can't wait to hang with Gaara and ol' B again! It's gonna be awesome!" Naruto folded his arms behind his back, leaning in his chair. It was more than a month before Noboru's birth. The usual annual meeting between the Kages was to take place and Naruto still had no idea of how he was going to confront the Tsuchikage. It had been almost two months since Gaara's visit, and he hadn't sort out anything. Yet, he showed himself content and confident. Some may call such high confidence foolish, but this confidence is what had brought him where he was today.

"Hang out? Awesome? Isn't this supposed to be a serious meeting on which the constancy of world peace depends or something?" Sakura asked skeptically. Sometimes she thought no one could rather wear the Rokudaime's robes but Naruto, other times it gave her the impression he was a monkey with paperwork and he had no idea what he was doing.

"Hai, that's the point: good understanding between the Kages," Naruto waved his hand in the air carelessly. His strategy so far was to be all casual, not even bother about the Tsuchikage, unless he'd attack him directly. And, as far as Naruto was concerned, the old Tsuchikage wouldn't attack him directly, as he'd have to confess hiding things from an ally.

"You mean the fate of five nations lies in what could result out of a poker night and several glasses of sake? And people wonder how four Shinobi Wars were possible?" Sakura commented, rolling her eyes.

"We were all allies in the fourth, though," Naruto inquired, yet his mind was wandering.

"Oh, my bad. ONLY three wars - no big deal," she said sarcastically, starting to get really pissed off towards the guy, but she tried to hold it in. She promised herself to stop hitting him some years ago, but sometimes it was hard to stay aback. Still, hitting the recently officially announced Hokage would not be greatest for her career. She didn't even notice Naruto was slowly drifting away.

"Besides, I can only see them twice a year now: these meetings and chunin exams."

"You haven't seen them any more than that up until now either, dobe," Sasuke talked this time. He was more aware of Naruto's changing mood and kept observing him closely.

"Yeah, we haven't seen much each other since the war," Naruto sighed and Sakura couldn't help thinking, if another war would rise, it would all be casual hanging out with friends for their Hokage. The 'clueless monkey' side of him was still sitting there. Then all of a sudden he sobered completely.

"You know, I have a bad feeling," he added, looking abnormally serious.

"You leave us for a week and we'll be over without you. Ok, you're right," Sasuke spoke ironically from his chair, getting to think he was missing something. Naruto was still thoughtful. It wasn't a good sign. Yet, he didn't say anything to them, so Sasuke mentioned nothing. When the time would come, he'd tell them. If the loudest ninja was turning quiet, it had to be a big deal about it.

* * *

"This is going to be troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. This year's meeting was in Suna and their Hokage had chosen him as companion. That was a pain, considering he'd have to deal with his girlfriend's both brothers. Those two didn't like him much. He guessed brothers may never like the guy to date (and soon to marry) their sister. But having two like Gaara and Kankuro not liking you was really bad. Yet, he was dealing with Temari pretty well. And Temari was worse to deal with than both the brothers. Falling in love with her destroyed his every dream of a peaceful, eventless life. But that was ok. He could still deal with her presence better than with her absence. He could live with this trouble.

"Ne, Shikamaru, what's bad in spending some time with your future brothers-in-law? We'll have fun," Naruto told him as they walked towards the gates, shining with enthusiasm.

"I'm bursting with joy…," Shikamaru mumbled, walking a few steps behind him. Well, at least he'd get to see Temari earlier than planned.

A day into the trip, they took a break to eat. Shikamaru was getting out supplies, while Naruto was preparing a fire. It was complete silence until a hawk made its presence known, up in the sky. Naruto looked up, watching the bird pass above them.

"Shikamaru, look," he addressed his companion.

The black-haired boy looked up and concluded simply, "It's a messenger."

"Heading to Konoha, it seems," Naruto added.

"We can't go back now to check for it," Shikamaru told him.

"That's not the point." Naruto looked concerned, which made Shikamaru leave away what he was doing. He had his doubts concerning their Hokage's brains, but one thing anyone knew was that when he was serious, he had a damn good, smart reason to.

"You see, Shikamaru, that's not an ally's messenger. I know them well. And an official message from the other countries should go to Suna." Shikamaru nodded, getting thoughtful himself about it. "So we get back," he asked.

"No," Naruto sits up, "Only I go back. Here," he got out a paper, handing it to Shikamaru.

"This is naming me to represent you," he stated after a short look upon it.

"I had it prepared if necessary. It's better if I go back alone, so I can use Hiraishin. I'll reach Konoha faster. Also, Shikamaru, I have good reasons to not give the Tsuchikage reasons to be suspicious, by not showing up. I can't give you details. Just tell Gaara, whenever you get him alone, that I got caught in the matter he talked to me a while ago about."

"It sounds like pretty serious stuff," Shikamaru raised an eyebrow questionably, putting his hands in his trouser's pockets.

"It is," was all Naruto said as he disappeared with a flash.

* * *

As she waited as always for her husband to come, Tenten became restless and impatient, looking constantly for things to do, to keep her mind occupied. She knew that, in her late pregnancy, she shouldn't force it like that. Actually she might have had her child one of those days, if it was going to be a girl. If it was a boy, it would happen in around a month. Secretly, she was hoping it would be a girl. She'd have loved a boy as much, but what disturbed her about it was the Hyuuga rule for Branch families. Unlike the girls, the boys born in a Branch family would be marked for life with a seal, just like her husband. She couldn't bear the thought of her child being… labeled. But those were the rules. And she'd have to be okay with them. Yet, she still hoped that maybe it would be a girl.

She looked again out the window and smiled, relieved to see Neji walking towards their house. Someone joined him, stopping him in his way. Tenten recognized the person as Hyuuga Nori, a man like a couple years older than Neji, part of the Branch family. She didn't know him too well and, actually, he and Neji didn't get along very well. They spoke little to each other. However, something didn't seem right about Nori. He seemed to be trying to tell Neji something, but continuously thrilled off, not finishing what he meant to say. Gradually, Neji started to get pretty pissed off, yet he seemed concerned, too. Really curious about what was going on out there, Tenten walked to the door and out the house, to get to them, but as soon as she opened the door, she stopped, breathed in and tried not to panic, for the sake of the baby. As she took a few steps forward, not taking her eyes off of Nori, lying down, a few curious people started getting around him and Neji.

Neji was stunned, looking down at the other man. He knelt next to Nori and, instead of checking his vital signs, he took off the man's hitai-ate, revealing a glowing mark on Nori's forehead. Right away, he raised his head, horrified. He was extremely pale and seemed to be trembling slightly.

"Neji," Tenten called for him, walking faster towards the two. Noticing her, he stood up and talked to her in a hurry, "Tenten, go inside. I have something urgent to do." He walked her back to the door. Tenten couldn't understand what was going on. She kept looking over her shoulder, at Nori, lying unconscious. Why was Neji leaving Nori there? Why was the young man in that state, to begin with?

He kissed her forehead as they reached the door, and then turned to leave.

"But what happened? Where are you going?" she shouted after him.

"To the hospital…" He must have been getting Nori there. Yet…

"What happened to Nori?" The question crossed her mind immediately. It took Neji some time to answer. He picked Nori up and, just before leaving, added flatly, "He's dead."

* * *

"Hinata!" Neji walked past Sakura office's door, where Hinata was looking for some files. Seeing him there, she was too surprised to react anyhow for a few moments, but gained voice as she noticed his state. "What's going on?"

"I… I just left Nori's body at the morgue," were his first words. His voice was shaking. She had never seen him like that.

"What?" Nori? Hyuuga Nori? What was going on? At the morgue?

"She… But, no… It killed him! Oh, the sound! The brain… explode… It's…" He was incoherent, moving his gaze all around, like mad. Brain… explode? She gulped. She knew really well… The sound… But how came? Hyuuga Nori? Dead? Killed? Hanabi was the only one who could… So that meant…

"How did Nori die… I mean, why? What's going on?" She caught him by the shoulders, with strength and determination she had never felt before. She noticed the slight movements of her hands and was surprised to realize it was not her, but Neji who was trembling. She was steady and calm, like never before, in such a moment. She was determined.

"He told me… he told me everything… he told me that…" That right moment, she covered his mouth.

"Shut up," she shook her head, hit by the reality of what his words meant and what it could get to mean. "Don't you dare say a word." She couldn't her voice could convey such authority. What she knew was she couldn't let him do that. She realized something serious was going on in the family, something terrible, but the price would have been too high.

There was a secret. And it was protected by the mark. If Neji spoke a single word…

It seemed he understood it too. That's why the sound made him tremble like this. He had known that very moment what he would do. But he shouldn't. She couldn't let him.

"No, no, no…," she continued muttering. She couldn't see him die. No matter if the world would crumble. Neji was… her brother. It was too much to ask for. It was an egoistic thought, maybe. She knew she should be thankful to find out…

Why hadn't Nori come directly to her? Of course, Nori had known the risks and maybe still had had his hopes to survive, by telling a sealed one. Nori had been sure Neji would tell her, with the price of his life.

Kami, didn't Nori have a baby at home? Tenten… Neji's child…

In the meantime, Neji got to calm himself. He took off Hinata's hand, looking grave, but determined.

"You are the one who needs to know and the only one who can make a decision," he said slowly, holding her hands down with all his strength. It hurt. Before she could say a word, he added fast, "Hanabi is a traitor of the village and the whole family will…" Right away, his seal mark started glowing. He shouted because of the sudden pain, not getting to finish. He was going to die! To die in front of her! And she couldn't do a thing.

She wasn't sure of what have happened, but she just raised her hand, muttering, "No" and it was gone. The glowing. The mark on his forehead was back to normal and he was fallen silent, unconscious, on the floor. Had he died? He must have been dead… Kami, no…

"Hinata? What's going on?" Sakura, got there by Neji's screaming, came through the door, heading to the young man on the floor.

"He's… dead," Hinata murmured. "Dead…"

"No, he's not," Sakura replied, looking up at Hinata, starting to get really concerned about what had happened there. "He has a pulse. He seems fine. Why is he unconscious?" But Hinata didn't seem to pay attention to what she was saying. She, too, knelt, checking Neji with her Byakugan. "He has a cranial traumatism, but otherwise…" he muttered thoughtfully. She was talking more to herself and continued in that fashion, "I stopped it. I had the power to stop it… My hands…," she studied her hand, so dreamily Sakura doubted she was even actually seeing it.

"Hinata…"

"I guess I am truly part of the Main family, after all," Hinata smiled bitterly, then stood up. "I have to…" Just then, she finally seemed to notice Sakura's presence, " Please take care of him," she pointed to Neji, "I have something urgent to do," she concluded, nodding to herself, while walking towards the door.

"Hinata, what's going on?"

"It's just family business, Sakura… family business," she replied, without even looking, closing the door behind her.


	17. Fireworks became hurricane

The Hyuuga Manor was filled with people, spread all around, a few discussing at the gates, a few in the gardens, a few she met as walking down the corridors all acting casually, as if they were there for no special purpose, but all looking as if waiting for something to happen. Hyuugas hanging around the Manor had never been unusual, but today there was something different about it, as if there was something in the air, something of anxiety and something of impatience.

As she walked past them, people greeted her respectfully, like they had always done. But just now it dawned to her, these last months it had been somehow different. It had been something different about both the way the greetings were given and the way they were received.

"Konnichiwa, Hinata-sama," the elder of the Branch families said to her, bowing, as she walked along the hallway. It had always been awkward for her to receive that respect, usually answering incoherently, with her shoulder brought together, her head bowed, her pace quickened.

"Konnichiwa. Have you seen Hanabi around?" she asked, clearly and loudly, looking him straight in the eyes, her figure straight, her head high, her movements natural. Just now did she realize the big changes. And the old man seemed to think of the same thing.

"Miss Hanabi is in the training hall, Hinata-sama," he answered promptly, observing her every movement and reaction attentively. It was weird how her sister had always been called by him just 'Miss Hanabi'. Only she was given the 'sama', or 'lady Hinata'.

"Thank you." She bowed her head at departure with a kind smile and passed forward.

"Hinata-sama?" he stopped her for some more moments.

"Yes?" she looked back at him, patient.

"Beg me pardon, Hinata-sama, but is it true that Nori is dead?" News spread fast, after all, especially when the events take place in the centre of the town, in the middle of a big amount of curious ones.

"Yes, indeed," she replied gravely. "Part of the reason for which I'm searching Hanabi right now," she added in an insinuated tone.

"I see," the old man nodded knowingly, "I did thought you'd come personally. That's why I thought it appropriate for us not to announce her about the recent events." They changed understanding looks. The man bowed once more and walked away. She watched him go, surprised. The family was practically acting in a silent protest. In support of her and whatever she meant to do. What would she do? She didn't know yet. She was acting on instinct. But this new revelation made her confident.

She found Hanabi still doing her warming up. She approached her with moderate, yet determinate pace, starting to talk just as she entered the place, in order to make her presence known, "Hanabi. It's been long since I last saw you out of your rooms."

Hanabi stopped from what she was doing to reply, "Actually, I'm spending equal time here. But I heard you prefer the training outdoor lately." She was dressed comfortably, her hair caught in a simple bum.

That place wasn't the best Hinata could visit. It only reminded her of the failure she had always been, always laid down by a much younger Hanabi. Not the motivational place to train in, indeed.

"So how comes you visit?" Hanabi asked, facing Hinata. Her voice was casual, but her eyes were focused. Same with Hinata.

"Neji is in the hospital."

"How unfortunate. Troubles in a mission?"

"No. Well, details would take much time. But it all started like an hour ago. When Nori died. Do you know Nori? He was neither in a mission."

Adrenaline filled her entire body when she felt her hand instinctively catch Hanabi's, directed to hit badly in Byakugan terms. She had been watching her sister closely, yet the promptness with which her eyes turned into Byakugan mode still took her a bit by surprise.

Other hits followed the first and, for the beginning, all Hinata did was defend herself.

" . . .Hanabi?" she asked while moving out of Hanabi's hands' way. " . . . . .you?"

"Sharing national secrets," Hanabi scoffed. "Aren't you two getting close?" she added ironically, managing to give Hinata a hit; though, not a dangerous one. Hinata jumped from that place, getting the space to attack back. Yet, her hits were even less successful than Hanabi's first strike. Hanabi possessed better speed and accuracy in her movements, keeping her away easily. After all, Hanabi had always been the real Hyuuga heir. The one born with talent...

Another hit for Hinata. Taken close enough to the heart. It must have been some damage. She felt it. But she wasn't taken aback by that at all. A hit in her throat. She chocked a little, missing another upcoming hit. Damn… Hanabi brought her closer. Too close. Hakke Rokujuuyonshou. Eight Divination Signs. Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand.

"1, 2, 3…"

Damn. Damn. Damn.

"14, 15, 16…"

In the end, was talent all that mattered? Didn't she really have a real chance?

A part of Naruto's speech held at the beginning of the last Chunin exam came into her mind.

_"For years and years I've worked my hardest to get close to, or maybe –just maybe- equal this 'naturally talented' guy. And I accidentally ended up surpassing him." _

Of course, that was about Sasuke. After all, she'd been there all of those years, in the academy times and after. So many years after, Sasuke did become a very powerful ninja, one of the best. But Naruto has become the tr**u**ly best.

"20, 21, 22…"

_"You may be powerful or not right now. You may be a born genius or not. But who you are now is not who you'll always be and far from what you've been. This is just the beginning of your life. A loser is NOT always a loser."_

'This happened many time before. And it happened here. But not today,' Hinata thought. Channeling her chakra, she went in Hiraishin mode, all in a second, as much as Hanabi's technique gave her. With her direction positioned backwards, she took Hanabi's next hit, which was just enough to pull her out of the dangerous circle. Her chakra was low, though. She had to give everything in a short period of time. So she didn't lose a moment before striking back.

Hanabi was taken by surprise for just a moment, but exactly that moment cost her. Hinata was already hitting her with Juuho Soushiken (Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist), right in her main chakra point. That was another second won. Immediately, she caught her in Hakke Rokujuuyonshou. The Hiraishin had her closing her sister's chakra point at high speed, too fast for Hanabi to try and do something about it, like Hinata.

"…63, 64!" Hanabi was thrown at the other side of the training hall, stopping just as her body met the wall. The same moment, Hinata fell on her knees, breathing hard. Pain flooded through her body at once. Hiraishin took a lot of chakra. This combined move threw her at the limit and beyond.

Choking, she looked at her sister. And she felt a sudden shiver. Hanabi's eyes were closed now – she was unconscious. But she could see her rise again. And she felt fear. Not about her. But she remembered being told Nori was dead. And she remembered the sound. The sound Neji had spoken about. The sound she had herself heard in the war, as her father formed the seals. Brain. Explode. This young woman had the power to kill them all, if she wanted to. And Hinata wasn't sure if she'd want to do it tomorrow or not. Or maybe the other day? Or whenever she wanted. For any reason she wanted. She didn't know her sister anymore. She couldn't understand her sister anymore. She didn't know what was in that girl's mind. Why she was doing the things she was doing. What she was doing. Not at all.

As she was, on her knees, she started crawling to where Hanabi was.

And she remembered Neji, at the point of almost falling dead. She had been at the point of almost hearing the sound inside his head. That sound.

She was now in front of Hanabi. And as she thought of Neji, she remembered that day. Her third birthday. The Hyuugas gathering. And…

Without thinking, she formed the seals, with incredible speed for the state she was in. And when the seals stopped, her hand was laid upon Hanabi's forehead. As she took it off, a green mark showed itself.

After that, she finally fell to the ground completely, not able to move anymore. And she started to cry. She didn't know for how much time she stood there, crying, while Hanabi was still unconscious, a couple steps from her own fallen body. It felt like an eternity until she felt a pair of powerful hands taking her up. And someone called her name. But she didn't recognize the voice. Or maybe she just couldn't hear well through her sobs. But she hadn't the time to think it further. Just then, she passed out.

* * *

Blur. Burning light. And something yellow. And some shiny, blue things.

"Sakura, she awakened!"

"Of course she did. You were the only one impatient for nothing. Chakra exhaustion is not that dangerous, Naruto!"

She blinked twice. Blue… Eyes. The blue things were irises. And the yellow was his hair. Naruto. There. Where was 'there'?

"Hinata?"

Ow! It hurt. Her head hurt badly. Moving her eyes hurt. Hospital. That was a hospital room. "Hanabi…," she murmured. Her throat was really dry. She choked. And it hurt.

"Geez, Hinata! Ya scared me so badly. Like, I got there and found you both on the ground! And you were crying. And then I took you up. And you suddenly passed out! It was so…"

"Let her breath, Naruto," Sakura was pulling him by his cloak. She took his place next to Hinata's bed, checking Hinata's state, while Naruto was getting pissed off and impatient in the back. "Well, it looks like by tomorrow you'll be perfectly fine, Hinata," she smiled at her, handing her a glass of water. Hinata's hands were trembling while holding the glass, but she drank it immediately, feeling an annoying pain in her chest. Too fast.

"Hanabi," she murmured again.

"She's alright, Hinata. She's just fine," Sakura assured her.

"Yeah, well, she doesn't really deser…," Naruto started mumbling.

"Naruto, get out!" Sakura pointed him the door.

"You can't just throw me out. I'm the Hokage, damnit!" he protested loudly.

"Well, then go do your Kage stuff, Hokage-sama. Here I am the doctor and I have the last word." Not willing to go anywhere, Naruto had to shut his mouth, pouting, feeling himself foully treated.

Hinata didn't really understand what was going on. Things were still blurry in her mind. But they said Hanabi was okay, that one she heard well. The thoughts before passing out wandered through her head again, causing a worse headache, but she let them be. She needed to remember.

"Neji?" she asked, her voice less weak now.

"You were right. He had a traumatism. But he's going to be alright too, in the end," Sakura replied softly, an outstanding contrast between her tone now and the one used with Naruto just seconds ago.

Hinata fell back asleep almost immediately.


	18. Kaminari

Hinata did not talk to her sister when she came back to her senses. Nor did she a day later, a week later, and so on. Now, even more than before, there was a barrier between them. And Hinata preferred not even to give that a thought. Not that she had the time. More and more duties fell now on her shoulders. And she also thought herself responsible of being in charge of the investigations on what had been going on with Hanabi – without the input of Hanabi. But she had Hanabi's (now hers) desk for support. And, with the curse on the seal gone, she had information from the entire family, too.

Brilliant enough, each family member had had just one duty, representing one piece in the puzzle, unknowing to the rest of them. And, in each separate Hyuuga family, there had been one in charge of spying on the other, to make sure things remain that way. And Hanabi had let them know that. Without letting them know who that was, of course. So they couldn't trust turning to each other, share their doubts.

Awakening in the middle of such a situation, of being in charge of the most important decisions, of the moves to be taken, and the responsibility for their outcomes, it all scared her at the beginning. It was too much and all of a sudden. Though, later on, she would be thankful for it. That period was the brick that completed and assured the stability of her self-confidence. She got to learn things about herself that she could have learned no other way. She discovered that she possessed a strong will, and more discipline than she had had ever suspected. She was a leader.

She didn't turn arrogant, not at all. But she got to realize many people depended on her, that whatever she did, whatever decision she made, it affected a large mass of people. That, if she showed herself strong and confident, others would follow her with confidence and strength, too, knowing they were led well and in the right direction.

She dressed herself up impeccably, wearing her kimonos with elegance and nobles, and her Jounin uniform with security and pride. She measured her mannerism and speech, in order to both be respectful, but also claim respect. She interested herself in law and finance and kept in touch with any changes taking place both in the country and international. Of course, sometimes thing went bad, sometimes things got messed up, because of her mistakes or simply because they simply do, sometimes. And, in those times, she got mad at herself, even hid in her office and cried in frustration. Insecurities came back to surface. But, every time, she kept it all to herself, keeping her chin up in the air and her attention to other ones' needs.

Just a day after she had left the hospital, she also left it for good. She could not handle her job there anymore. Yet, she couldn't also abandon her Genin team and so she scheduled her program in order to be able to stick with them until the Chunin exam to come, which she was positive they'd all ace.

The first real challenge after getting out of the hospital was knocking to Naruto's office's door, just later that day. Because she wasn't going there as his friend. She was visiting Konoha's Hokage, to hear the verdict in a very important matter, not only for Konoha, but to all its allies. She hadn't got to research on what had been going on, yet, but she knew that Hanabi had caused some good trouble. And that she had to be alright with any decision upon it.

"Hinata. Please sit," he invited her. Naruto was sitting behind a whole pile of papers and officially sealed letters. Just then, he was reading something gotten out of an envelope wearing the Tsuchikage's mark. From the faces he was making, it was truly unpleasant. He didn't seem to have read it to the bottom, when he just rolled his eyes and literally threw it away, mumbling something unintelligible. A moment after, he narrowed his eyes at the mountain of paper before him, through which he could barely see Hinata.

"Naruto, I came in the matter…" But he raised his hand at the top of the papers mountain, signaling her to not say anything just yet. Then, using his both hands, he actually pushed the paperwork, half to the left, half to the right, to fall onto the floor, leaving the desk all clean.

"Better," he nodded to himself casually, then turned to Hinata, his head held in his palms, his elbows planted steadily into the desk. "So, Miss Hyuuga, I believe you're here to discuss 'the Hanabi matter', a matter of interest, as you can see," and he pointed to the letters on the floor," to five states we hold alliances with." He was using those official, pompous words, but as he talked, he was smiling widely, speaking in a casual tone, just as they had always talked in private. He may as well have told her what he's planning to eat for dinner. Furthermore, from the sparkles in his eyes, it all seemed part of a good jokes for him, especially the interest of the allies. "My decision towards the subject all of these want to get their noses in is: 'do whatever the hell YOU want, Hinata'. Damn all of the others," he concluded with the same wide smile, as relaxed as he could be, as friendly as he could act.

His answer was far from anything she could have ever expected. She couldn't help but show nothing but confusedness at first.

"Listen," Naruto turned a bit more serious, talking with sincerity and kindness, "as Sakura told me you had mentioned, this is 'family business'.

"I must say, I was freaking worried at first. That day, I noticed an eagle messenger of the other countries in the sky and I just knew it wasn't addressed to me. As I'd already been told a traitor was in Konohagakure, there was no doubt about what that meant. I got back home immediately. The distance amount I and Shikamaru had made in one day, I alone finished in only three hours with Hiraishin. But I lost track of the messenger and, as I had no idea if Neji was back yet from his mission, and I had no too strong relations with, or not such strong trust for other Hyuugas, especially in such a matter, I went to the hospital, to 'borrow' you from Sakura. I needed the Byakugan for its better tracking abilities. But there I only found Sakura, who told me the little and confusing facts she knew about the recent events. And how she couldn't follow you herself, because she had had to attend Neji immediately.

"You may call me superstitious, but just then I remembered this dream I once had had. About these fireworks. And, in my dream, these fireworks turned into a hurricane. And it all seemed to have a deeper meaning right then. I was at the Hyuuga residence in less than a minute. And some told me 'Hinata-sama' was in the training hall with 'Miss Hanabi', so I asked for the directions and got there. And I should tell you, if I hadn't been so worried, you would have dealt with the worst argument of your life, half unconscious, as you were.

"But I had time to meditate upon it since then. And now I can tell, I'm actually proud of you." At the last few words, she gradually blushed, from her normal, pale skin to bright red. It wasn't only about the spoken words, but he had also talked proudly. And there might have been something more than pride in his voice. But maybe she just imagined that in the nervousness of the moment.

"Hinata, you did what was right, not what was safe, and it would be such a hypocrisy to tell you that's not the thing to be done. That's what my whole life has been about, damnit! And I realized… you're the damn leader of these people, geez! I think that, as a leader, you did the best so far and will continue to do so. Damn the council. Damn the Kages. I'll be the one to deal with them, don't worry. You just go and manage this your way."

Hinata had no idea what to respond to all that. It was overwhelming. And just then it dawned on her, too" she was the leader, now. She was 'the heir'. Fortunately, Naruto was called by the council just then and, as he waved her goodbye, she was thankful she didn't have to respond anything right then.

She started her work right away. Firstly, she visited Nori's family, expressing her condolences, and regret for not being able to attend the funeral. Moreover, she took his wife and young child under her care and protection. Also, she visited Neji at the hospital, asking wide details about his state. Finding out Tenten was, too, help held under observation at the hospital right then, as she was due soon and the news about her husband had previously done her no good, she visited her, too. They talked a little and Hinata assured her, both as a friend and a medic, that Neji was going to be just fine. Also, Tenten told her that, because Hinata had been lately so busy, they had never got to ask her, but she and Neji were wondering if she'd have liked to be the child's godmother. Hinata accepted the offer with enthusiasm. For some reason, Tenten hoped it was going to be a girl. And Hinata took that possibility into account. But, for another unknown reason, Hinata was almost sure it would be a boy. And she believed this boy would have a bright destiny. She just did. They say that what your godparents wish for you, it may come true, so who knew?

That same day, getting back home, she closed herself in Hanabi's office, staying in there up until dawn, not closing an eye in the meantime. It was no need to sort anything. Hanabi had been really organized, keeping anything in a clear order, ready for use. She found the new message Naruto had talked about on top of many others, put somewhere aside, in the very back of a drawer, all packed in a bigger, leather package. She started with those, reading them from the oldest to the newest. Though, they were coded. It was going to take some…

* * *

"I can't believe you're late," Sakura told him as he entered. "You just started out as the worst godfather ever."

"I'm not late. I'm just in time," he replied, just hearing a newborn baby's cry from the hospital compartment. Right away, Kakashi, looking happier like they'd ever seen him, opened its door, calling them in to meet his daughter. He was saying the word 'daughter' with some kind of fascination only parents could understand.

Shizune, who just minutes ago was viciously cursing Kakashi at the top of her lungs, was now murmuring cute things in the direction of a little thing, covered in a white material, being handed to her. "I hope you did think of a name, Naruto," she said, not taking her eyes off of her little child.

"Actually, yes. And I'm glad it's a girl, because I didn't prepare a name for a boy. As for the one I have, I thought, if Kakashi-sensei is lightning, she'll be Kaminari (thunder)."

"Getting over the fact that I'm not even included in this… Kaminari… That actually sounds good," Shizune had to admit.

Kaminari moved a little in her mother's arms, yawning, and fell asleep. Unlike most of children, she had barely cried.

"I guess she's going to be as lazy as her father," Sakura whispered to her teammates.

**A/N:** As I updated on my profile, a new chapter will come up from now on only on Fridays. I have to organize my time somehow so I don't mess up with school, but neither neglect my stories.


	19. When the numbness sets in

"Naruto, how's life?"

It was around a month after the 'Hanabi matter'. The blonde turned around, almost not recognizing the person. Konohamaru was much too grown up for his own good. Interestingly, he looked pretty much the same, but there was a big change in the way he stood and the way emotion reflected on his face. His figure was too steady. The bright smile on his face seemed genuine, but not fitting well into place, as if it was lightening a face used to look much to serious the whole time. His eyes did not light up when he smiled, anymore. Naruto looked back at him with happiness, but still somehow expected a wholly different Konohamaru to enter that door.

Konohamaru, you seem to have liked it in there. Otherwise, I can't explain why you'd stay for this long." The shook hands and seated themselves at Naruto's desk. Naruto, seated all relaxed, like always, couldn't help but be silently surprised at how, even on the chair, Konohamaru still stood too straight and steady.

"It was alright, I guess," Konohamaru replied neutrally. Pretty much eventless, I can tell. Unlike in here, I heard. What has been going on?" he asked, becoming quite restless now, but his old, good kind of restless.

"Oh, well, it's a long story...," Naruto started.

And he told him how things got mainly worse in their international relations. Then how Gaara came, telling him about a traitor in Konoha. And he conducted his own research. Found nothing. The annual Kage meeting came and he left the village with Shikamaru. On their way, he noticed the strange messenger. He came back to the village immediately. He found out about Hinata and Hanabi and, in some more days, what has been going on between them, but also between all the Hyuuga family members. From then on, things escaladated quickly.

* * *

Walking out of the office, after his discussion with Hinata, Naruto walked in a meeting with a very annoying council. An hour later, he was slamming the door open, after sitting up in the middle of a chaos they called conference, with the simple statement, "I'm done."

"You can't just leave like that, Naruto!" one of them called after him.

"It's Hokage-sama for you and I can do whatever the fuck I want!" he shouted back, not even bothering to look over his shoulder as he spoke.

Back into his office, he announced the assistant always staying close to his door that he had a lot of work and was there for no visitor. With that done, he left three clones at his desk, to continue with the paperwork and reading the corespondence, and got out of there, leaving the Hokage coat on his chair, and into the woods, willing to train until he fell deadly tired. But after only two hours, he found himself heading back to his office. Training alone was damn boring.

Arrived there, he was glad to see the clones had finished all the work. He made them disappear and took his coat back on just in time, before hearing the assistant insisting on 'Hokage-sama is here for no visitor' and the hit that followed after an 'Oh, really?' sarcastic reply.

'Poor guy,' he thought, as Sasuke entered his office. He looked at Naruto suspiciously for some moments, from the pile of now carefully arranges paperwork, to his very clean coat, but very and newly scarred hands.

"Did you cut yourself in all of today's papers," he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Let's say that's how it happened and move on to how you're trying to turn my employees in clients for your fiancée's hospital, every time you come around," Naruto raised an eyebrow in return.

"Or we could move on directly to the reason why I'm here. Shizune is having the baby. Your godchild. Like now," he emphasized, pointing to the exit as in 'let's go already'.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto walked in the office to find Hinata already there, sitting, waiting.

"As I'm one of the 'old friends', your assistant did not send me to wait outside. So he promised me coffee if I promised him to stay quiet. That's something I'm pretty good at, so I was given four coffee cups so far." She did sound like someone who had had too much caffeine, too fast.

Naruto was about to ask why she was up so early, but rethinking that, he questioned instead, "Did you even sleep last night?"

"No," she answered simply, getting a leather package out of a backpack lying on the desk. "I tried my best at decoding these. I'm not a specialist in decoding, but I do know Hanabi, so I gave it a try. I figured out some things. Others are still unclear," she said, in the same caffeinated, hasty and trembling tone, sitting up and picking up her backpack, more jumping than walking. Naruto was amused by her reaction to caffeine overdose and randomly wondered how she would have acted if she had been drunk.

"Got your hands on these so fast?" he took the package, giving the contains a fast look.

"They weren't actually hidden. I doubt she ever expected for something like this to happen."

"Did you decide on what to do with her?"

"I did her the worst already. Put the seal on her... She's not a danger for the family now. Still, I can't let her go out of the family's district without a guard or two. The worst she could try now to do is leave..." It was uncomfortable for her to speak about Hanabi. Well, it had never been something she could do easily, but now she had good reasons. "Now, excuse me, I must learn how to administrate a district," she walked towards the exit and (she had no idea why, thinking later about it) caught Naruto's hand in hers for a moment only as she passed towards him.

Naruto stood there for a little while afterwards, without knowing why, either, closing and opening his palm, as if this hand would have been temporally paralyzed and he had to get it back in function. Out of that trance, he remembered about the package he was still holding in his other hand. Right away, he headed to the Cryptology Department, leaving that moment behind.

* * *

The next day Hanabi was out of the hospital and Hinata accompanied her home in the most awkward silence. Hanabi grimaced when her sister took her even to her room. Giving directions concerning Hanabi, Hinata went directly to her new office, where she was waited by a pile of paperwork she had no idea how to handle.

* * *

"But, wait, you say Kakashi has a daughter," Konohamaru was genuinely surprised.

"I know, right? Me, Sakura and Sasuke don't know too much about it either, but we're surely curious about how he handles it..."

* * *

The well known Copy-Nin had thought the pregnancy days are something tough, but he really had no idea. The basic lessons were:

1. Disappearing with a puff did no longer solve anything, only complicated things (to the worst);

2. 'You're late' became synonymous with 'You're dead' and many other intriguing curses his neighbors must have been horrified about.

Thinking back, Kakashi couldn't remember planning fatherhood and having a family of his own. Damnit, he used to find it difficult to plan what to have for dinner and when to finally arrive (always extremely late) to any kind of meetings, so not to even mention further plans for future. So how did it all start?

It all began in the first year after the war. It left him in a need of a long-term recuperation treatment. A difficult one. Tsunade was the most adequate for that, but she was way too busy. Sakura was left with half of the hospital on her shoulders. Still not being at Tsunade's level, she was given lighter cases (which didn't mean NOT difficult, just not THAT difficult), so cases like Kakashi's passed to the more experimented Shizune, "the creepy one carrying a pig all around", as Kakashi described her back then. Also, easy came anger and aggressively must have been part of the lessons they had had from Tsunade, else he couldn't explain the phenomenon.

But he got used to that. And he also got used to her talking about muscles and bones, and about Tsunade-sama and paperwork, about gardening and historical places, recipes with brown rice and constant mentions about how her pig was not food (Kami knows why she said that...). But he just did get used to all these. And when the treatment finished successfully (after only three months and not a year, as Tsunade herself calculated), he kind of started feeling bad without that routine.

He got truly restless, not even enjoying re-reading his Itcha Itcha books any longer (yes, that bad). Not really thinking why, two weeks after his treatment had ended, he was visiting Shizune. A very awkward visit, as she couldn't understand what he was doing there, too. And he didn't seem like he was going to give a good reason too soon. He was just chatting about casual things. And the whole thing was both confusing her and pissing her off, as sue had a lot of paperwork to deal with.

After a while, he left. And all she could think was that it had been freaking weird. Even weirder, he came back a few days later. The weirdest, he finally also noticed she had paperwork to do and no time for him, so the guy actually offered himself to help her. Creepy. Damn creepy. She couldn't really politely refuse with a 'I can handle this easily'. There was a huge pile that spoke for itself, 'we have been lying here for a week and will be lying even more, while we multiply, too'. Of course, he had no idea what it was all about in those "badly written stuff", but he caught the idea of it pretty fast.

As they worked, he continued the casual talk, about mostly nothing. And they continued it up until dawn. Yet, the desk was clean by then. Out of the hospital and into the road, walking separate ways, both going home to sleep, he had her turning around with a, "How about eating somewhere together when we wake up? My treat."

She narrowed her eyes, confused. Was he... "Are you asking me out?"

"Would the answer be 'yes'?"

She thought about it for a while. "Six in the evening. Don't you dare be late," she answered in the end, and then turned and left with no more add.

But of course he was late. An hour. After an hour of waiting, she got mad and went back home, cursing the damn guy for another hour before Kakashi himself to appear through her window with bags of food, interestingly, and all her favorites. For that moment, she has been so surprised, she even forgot she was mad. At her questionable look, he replied, "You mentioned them time ago."

"And you remembered them," she stated, raising an eyebrow. Neutrally raising his shoulders was his only answer.

And that's how it all began.

Yet he couldn't imagine having taken different decisions, living a different life. He was still taken aback when, coming home late at night after a mission, he found, in his bed, a black haired woman, holding tight a little pale figure with short, messy silver hair on that lovely head. And when he came home during the day, he heard in the kitchen the light laughing of Kaminari and Shizune talking to her gently and playfully trying to make the little one eat. Otherwise, he found them in the bathroom, where Kaminari was having her bath before sleep. Or they were in the living room, after breakfast, Kaminari with her toys, Shizune with her paperwork, glancing at the little kid from time to time, checking on her. However you take it, they were there, at any moment of the day, in every part of the house.

* * *

"Still, all this Hyuuga matter sounds strange. Have you figured out yet how things actually happened?" Konohamaru got back to the main issue, thoughtfully, after joyfully joking some about the Copy-Nin.

"I'm afraid things are still in a blur from some points of view," Naruto, too, became serious once again, still surprised of how that happened for Konohamaru, though.

"You mean you couldn't figure out yet how things happened?"

"Oh, that's perfectly clear. Yet, the matter that's still a mystery is how and why Hyuuga Hanabi got involved in this..."

"Yeah, that's quite the question," Konohamaru nodded, looking all concerned about it for a few moments. "Oh, but you were to leave in a journey and I'm keeping you here," he just seemed to realize, sitting up.

"Geez, Konohamaru, an old good friend finally back home is much more important than any Chunin exam!"

"You're just in troubles with the other Kages, aren't you?" Konohamaru guessed with a smile. "Have you seen any of them face to face after missing that Kage meeting?"

"Not the annoying ones. That's why I'm not so happy about seeing the Tsuchikage again...," Naruto sat up too.

"Good luck, then," Konohamaru winked with a mischievous smile, before leaving Naruto. As Naruto joined the Jounin with their Genin teams for leaving to Suna, where the exam would take place, he was still thinking of Konohamaru. His friend could have been just maturing, but Naruto still thought there was something more to it.

* * *

**A/N:** I decided to write and include the Kakashi part in the very last moment. One of the readers was really concerned about a father Kakashi. My dear, the whole world surely agrees with you. A husband and father like Kakashi sounds a bit scary, eh, taking in account he tends to "get lost on the road of life". I thought this whole situation deserved some explanations.


	20. All she knew

**A/N:** _I'm really sorry for this taking long to be updated. It's a hectic period. Still, I try to not abandon any of my stories. I'll still post, but not so frequent as before. Thanks for understanding. Because this story still has some to go… Oh, friendly reminder: Konohamaru is not evil, people. Geez, I'm sorry, I did want to give this impression as to hide what's really going on, but it ended up pissing me off, this thing that my work is. So you can rest assured about it: no, nothing evil in our dear Konohamaru._

* * *

If Hyuuga Hinata did still live, not even the woman they called this way could tell. Who was this person walking around, being charming and signing papers – another enigma this dark-haired woman could not solve for you. What she wanted, what she aimed for – interesting matters that could be put in the queue, if you have to time to wait. A lot of time to wait.

She could tell you her name is Hyuuga Hinata (so do the paper say). She's the Hyuuga clan's leader (also officially stated in papers). But who was she when it came to deeper meaning… Who were her family and who were her friends? She could name them, too, if you do insist.

Her cousin was Hyuuga Neji. Hyuuga Neji was very loyal. Hyuuga Neji was a Jounin. Hyuuga Neji was married to Tenten, one of his old teammates, now Hyuuga, too. They had a son, named Noboru. She named him.

Her sister was Hyuuga Hanabi. Hyuuga Hanabi was quiet. Hyuuga Hanabi was pretty. Hyuuga Hanabi was a talented Jounin. Hyuuga Hanabi was stronger than Hyuuga Hinata. Hyuuga Hanabi had been chosen as the clan's leader. But she was no longer. The reasons and events that had lead to this, Hyuuga Hinata did not like mentioning.

And she has many other relatives, too many to list.

Kurenai Yūhi had used to be her sensei. Kurenai Yūhi was a Jounin. Kurenai Yūhi had a daughter. She had seen neither this daughter, nor Kurenai Yūhi in a long while.

Haruno Sakura and Ino Yamanaka were friends of her. Haruno Sakura and Ino Yamanaka were both Jounin. They had worked together with Hyuuga Hinata at the hospital, not long ago. Ino Yamanaka was married to Sai. She did not know the man's other name anymore. Haruno Sakura was engaged to Uchiha Sasuke. Or maybe they were married already. She couldn't really remember. Or she just didn't think about it, same as she didn't think about many things, lately.

Uzumaki Naruto was another friend of hers. Probably. Uzumaki Naruto was many things. And for many people. First of all, Uzumaki Naruto was, for all the people in the world, the Hokage of Konohagakure. Secondly, Uzumaki Naruto was an inspiration for most of people, in Konohagakure and beyond. Thirdly, Uzumaki Naruto was friend of quite a number of people, from Konohagakure and beyond. And then, if Uzumaki Naruto was fancied by women, she did not care to listen. If he was also hated, she did not get to hear such.

As for her, from afar, Uzumaki Naruto was clearly her Hokage, as Jounin of Konohagakure. From a bit closer, he had been an inspiration for her all along. Some may have said Uzumaki Naruto was not the smartest, but he was clearly witty and wise. And she loved listening to him. Even closer, she could see him as her friend. Seeing him right in front of her, she could see her ever crush, the boy she liked since her childhood years.

If Uzumaki Naruto was handsome, she could not tell. His hair was bright blonde, his eyes deep blue, his features symmetric, his face looking manly, yet somehow soft, reminding anyone who had ever met Uzumaki Kushina those were inherited from her and not from the boy's well known father. His body was well build from the hard training he put himself under through all of those years, one you could call attractive with no doubt. Tallness is a fact always appreciated in men, and he was tall, indeed. Not the tallest, just the necessary amount past the average high. So could Uzumaki Naruto of today be described in appearances.

But when Hinata had first started to have feelings for him, he was a skinny boy, shorter than any of the boys and most of the girls, and you could not tell if his features were even somehow alright, because he'd always be wearing a dumb expression on his face.

So she couldn't see him differently now. Whether his eyes were beautiful or not, there was the same determination and carry in them. The same kind and encouraging smile on his face. Yet, the same coldness when there was a real danger.

Whether he was especially attractive or not, his pose managed to be imposing, even when he'd just lay relaxed. His hands, just as she remembered them from the war, when he had held hers, were strong, yet soft. Same as his strong structure, they simply made her feel safe, out of any danger.

On the whole, these characteristics described his whole person, strength and softness. He could be cold-blooded and hot-blooded at once. He could be all serious about something, but still joke and laugh in the same matter. He could show himself thoughtful and preoccupied at the office, but also give the impression of 'a monkey with paperwork', as Sakura would sometimes call him.

He mostly appeared as an open book, but Hinata knew he was an enigma. And everything about him interested and surprised him.

And, despite all this, these times, she did not have any dream. She did not think of him. She did not see a future for them. All of it was inside her mind, kept for herself dearly. And no one could nowadays see a single sign of it in her. As for Naruto, he had never showed a single sign at all. So, we can guess, people had their right to be surprised, no longer than a year after.

* * *

That day, being in the numbness kind of state already described, Hyuuga Hinata was waiting, along with other Jounin and their teams, for their Hokage to join, and the journey to Suna to start. Kenji was telling her something. She wasn't attentive, but she did look at the boy attentively, with some kind of fondness. She couldn't help but feel a slight regret for being so positive regarding their potential to become Chunin after this exam. Because that way they'd part. And, through all the numbness, she got to care quite a lot for these children.

Soon enough, the Hokage joined them and, with nothing but a nod, they moved towards their destination. To Hinata, he seemed a bit thoughtful about something for the beginning. But she only gave it a bit of a thought, until going back to her 'mind palace', with all the randomness, philosophical wonders and family estate problems to be solved just as soon as she got home.

* * *

As soon as they entered Sunagakure's territory, Naruto immediately changed moods, becoming all cheerful and glad. Welcoming them, in the honor of their Hokage, was Gaara of the Sand himself, who didn't want to hear of intermediary representatives to greet Uzumaki Naruto, just as the other Kages would be normally treated.

And it's not like anyone would dare put themselves against a clear decision taken by the Kazekage. Of course, the Kazekage was highly changed and not the fearful one (not in a bad way), but some could still not get to oppose him sometimes, in the reminiscence of old past times.

If he wanted to show his fondness for a dear friend (and the committee could not forget, also a strong ally), who were they to oppose such gesture of young friendship?

Walking ahead of his comrades, Naruto shook the Kazekage's hand. The Jounin and their teams stood behind, respectfully, waiting for the right time to move, too. However, the Kazekage, after the warm encounter with his friend, did not gestured for everyone else to follow inside the gates. Instead, he walked from Jounin to Jounin, saying a few kind, welcoming words to each of them, something especially surprising for both the Konoha ninja and the Suna's present ones.

Seen by some who may not have met the Kazekage, or had not at least heard anything of him, he was rather distant and cold with these people. Thinking of it, he hadn't been especially happy or enthusiast towards the friend he had insisted so much on welcoming either. Not a single sign of attachment. Just a serious shake of the hand; a smile so thin you could say he was not even trying.

Those who knew him well, did know to appreciate his gesture enough. It was not something the Kazekage would normally do. Coming from him, it was to be highly praise and appreciated. The Konoha Jounin present that year were Nara Shikamaru, Sai, Rock Lee, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata. These were the groups to have past the written examination already, which now each country held for each other. Just the second and last, but also hardest parts of the exam, were held in a single country, with all the other villages invited for participation.

"Shikamaru," Gaara addressed first his future brother in law, "Temari will be glad to see you this early, two months before the wedding." They shook hands and he wished him luck with his team.

"Sai, congratulations; I heard about the wedding," he passed to the next Jounin, shaking hands with him, too.

"Welcome to Suna. Your first visit here, I believe," Gaara noted, shaking Shino's hand. Shino nodded, expressing his contentment of finally having the chance to be there, in his usual formal manner.

"Ah, Hyuuga Hinata. We had not the actual chance to meet face to face. I've visited Konohagakure shortly after the event with your sister. But you were in hospital there, I assume. Had I been to the hospital, I would have had more of Naruto's presence, I guess," he said in a rather personal manner. The only thing that missed from the moment was a smile and a wink for him, to make it understood he was hinting to a secret only they shared. Shaking her hand gently, he added confidentially, "But I have a feeling we'll see each other more often in my next visits to the Hokage," and with that he turned to her students, wishing luck for the upcoming exam, just like to all the others, before returning at Naruto's side.

"Why, let me lead you through the village now. Of course everyone must need a well deserved rest right now," he said, turning once more to them and actually giving a weak, yet welcoming smile.

They all followed. Hinata continued thinking about what could he had meant. Also, she felt kind of weird for the different way he talked to her, as if he was sure they'd get to be the greatest friends.


	21. News

The second task of the exam, the scrolls in the arena, had started. The Jounin of Konoha were mainly free to relax now. Shikamaru was spending the day with Temari. Lee was out for some youthful, extreme training in the desert, with no reserves of water (it was not the time to take himself easily, just like that). His friends made a point to go look for him and pick him up in case he'd not appear by evening. Sai was testing his (still being worked on) social skills, on the streets of Sunagakure, starting a conversation with each random stranger he passed by. No one knew where Shino had gone. Certain it was he had left in the morning and had said he'd be back by evening. Hinata slept in, waking up after everyone else was gone, so, alone as she was, after breakfast, she took out some paperwork she hadn't even believed she'd even take out the backpack, and got to work.

In fact, she wasn't the only one spending this time working. Naruto, since the very first hours of the morning, had been caught in the conference room of Sunagakure's Kage residence, having to give reports and explain, detail by detail, the problem that had been causing too much distress and suspicions through the five nations not too long ago.

Trying hard to stay awake after having troubles in trying to sleep the night before, Naruto was counting wrinkles on the Tsuchikage's face, his posture and expression giving the impression that he was really attentive, and interested in whatever the old man was saying right then.

"Boy, are you even listening?" the Tsuchikage suddenly addressed him.

"No," Naruto answered frankly after the several seconds it had taken him to realize he was the questioned one. The fact that he was too quiet and obedient must have given him away. But he simply did not care. Nor did he even bother to comment (like every single time) on the fact that he was a grown up man by now, not a 'boy'. He was tired. And he was tired like he'd never been before, no matter the sleepless night. A few hours less of sleep, or no sleep at all, were not a good enough excuse he could take for that lack of energy.

"How dare you treat me with such lack of respect, you young brat…," the Tsuchikage started his rambling.

But not even that mattered. It was the eighth hour spent in that place. They had discussed the same matters again and again, brought up suppositions, and new other suppositions, before getting back to the first ones. The trouble they were facing right then was that the corespondence Hinata had found in Hanabi's desk was not complete. What they deciphered and read gave the idea that a large amount of topics in there had been discussed before. Of course, that could have hinted to conversations face to face, before the corespondence to start.

In order to avoid farther conflicts, the five allies were trying to form the betrayal accusation for the little countries, for the intrigues done behind their back, with the subtle pointing out of their lack of chance in a possible confrontation with them and the offer of a final chance to redeem and have peace (in circumstances chosen by the allies, of course). But they couldn't launch themselves in such a definitive process without having all at hand, without knowing exactly what the accusations was. Hinata had looked anywhere previous papers could have been hidden, but she had doubted from the beginning that they existed and inclined to believe the missing points were spoken facts. From what it seemed, it looked necessary for Inoichi to check Hanabi on the matter, but Hinata avoided that possibility as much as she could. She couldn't think of her little sister being treated in such a manner, no matter what had happened between them.

Naruto knew that well, but, in the meantime, the other Kages were actually intrigued by the fact that a suspect in such an event had not been properly interrogated yet. But he had promised to Hinata that the decisions concerning Hanabi were hers. Still, there was no legitimate reason he could give these people, to explain to these people why such a measure had yet not been taken.

Out of that place, after another half an hour, when Gaara, realizing things were going nowhere, proposed to let it on the line for that day, Naruto entered the first room in the house he and his Jounin had been given, exhausted, just willing to throw himself on a chair, or anything, ignoring even the painful warnings of hunger in his stomach. But the only two chairs of what seemed to be a really small office we occupied, both of them, by Hinata, who was sitting on one, using the second as support for her legs. Sheets of paper on her lap, she was raising lazily the top of the first sheet with her fingers, reading, with a bored expression on her face. Hearing the door being slammed open, she jumped up, leaving the paperwork on the desk.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was here," he murmured, frowning at the thought that he'd have to move towards one more door. He walked out before she had the chance to say anything. Then, she heard the nearest door opening, then being closed. Starting to gather the paperwork she had decided to abandon, she saw Naruto walking in once more, pulling one of the two chairs and sitting down heavily. "The next room was a bathroom," he explained himself with a little smile, then looked up at her, realizing just then who he was talking to. "Hinata, aren't you out with the others?"

"I slept in," she said, leaving the paperwork on a corner of the desk and sitting on the other chair, right in front of him.

"Sounds awesome for someone who slept little," he replied, leaning against the back of the chair, his arms crossed at the back of his head.

"How was the meeting?"

"Long…," he answered with a yawn and a little smile.

"Besides that."

"Boring…"

"Fascinating," she smiled, amused, "And what have they talked about?"

"I have no idea…" He yawned again, scratching the back of his head, and closed his eyes.

"Now, why are you so tired when you seem to have been sleeping during the entire meeting?" she crossed her legs under her, catching her hair in a ponytail with a desk rubber band.

"Indeed, indeed," he said, his smile wider, acting as if not listening to her on purpose.

"I see," she raised her eyebrows, and then suddenly sat up. Sensing the movement, he opened one eye. "I suppose you're not even hungry," she said, matter-of-factly, picking up her work and moving towards the door. Hunger noises from his stomach, loud and clear in the sudden silence, left no room for any answer, remembering him the lack of sleep was not his only problem.

"Hinata-chan, I want food, too!" he cried like a little child.

"I don't think so!" she shouted from out the office.

"Damn," he cursed, yet not willing to get up from there, no matter what. He had a vague idea about sending the emergency call to his Jounin, but telling a group of worried comrades, asking what the emergency was, that he only wanted to be fed seemed to not be the best move. But he had not longer to think the alternatives, because he fell asleep quickly.

He awakened with a flinch at the sound of the door being slammed open, his eyes going blurry for a short while due to the sudden movement. So he stood still for a few seconds, waiting for his view to get back to normal. Just as soon as his view cleared, he could see packages being put on the desk.

"Sorry for waking you up, but you were hungry anyways, weren't you?" she said, sitting on her chair, starting to unpack the food containers. "I know they're trying to make us feel at home, preparing our kind of food, but I wanted to try some of their traditional meals, too. And, as the others are out for the rest of the day, as I've been said, I didn't ask them to cook only for the two of us. Instead, I went and bought some deliciously looking food from the markets."

The food did look wonderful, but Naruto's attention was caught by Hinata's behavior. She was talking cheerfully about the food and about what she'd seen through the village. It surprised him, seeing this sudden change, from deeply thoughtful, as she had been just the days before, to cheerful and talkative. It reminded him of the day he had found her in his desk, when she'd been drinking too much coffee. He almost asked her if she also picked up _some_ coffee on the way – like, 4-5 coffee or so, most likely – but restrained that in time.

He let her talk, and she talked about what she'd seen, about her students, and even about what the paperwork she had brought along contained. Even though she was so much more talkative, it was surprising that her speech was cursive, each word clearly punctuated, her ideas clear, nothing like his kind of hasty, hard to comprehend kind of rambling.

So far, he had been the one to talk, while she'd reply short, from time to time, but the change was welcome. Her speech was fluent and interesting, her voice soft, but catchy. He liked listening to her, even though she wasn't talking about anything truly important. He would have listened to her all day long, but right after they finished eating, a ninja of the Sand knocked, bringing a message from Konoha.

"Did it come with a hawk messenger?" Naruto asked him in an official, businesslike tone.

"Konoha's fastest, hai," the man nodded, adding, "It is addressed to Miss Hyuuga Hinata."

They were both surprised by the detail, but none said a thing. She took the letter and the ninja left. Opening it quickly, she read it hastily, but with caution, sinking in the important details.

"An intruder in the Hyuuga District," she said in a serious tone, nothing of the cheerfulness from before present anymore, not in her speech, not on her face. "Not caught. Not identified. Somehow, he managed to knock down all the ones supervising and, no doubt about it, visited my sister," she said thoughtfully, passing the letter to Naruto.

"But do you notice a detail quite interesting?" Naruto asked after a quick reading.

"What is it?"

"From what it seems, it means 'knocked unconscious', not 'killed', not even 'injured'," he pointed out, used to reading between the lines, from the many missions placements. "Why go so soft? Are they just trying to just not make themselves guilty of more murders, if it's who we think it is? Or are we missing something?"


	22. All the right reasons

**A/N:** Should I update or no? Yes or no. Yes. No. Maybe I shouldn't...

_Chapter 22 has been submitted. Please note it can take up to 30 minutes for the changes to take effect._

What did just happen...?

* * *

"What? You knocked people down?" the girl groaned, sitting on a corner of her bed, her face buried in her open palms. She just wanted everything to end. Why continuing on coming around? She'd said clearly that everything is _done_; that _she_ is done with everything.

"They managed to notice me, this time," the person explained with nervousness. "They're just right, actually… I swear!" the person cried in the end, frustrated at an own mistake.

"Sh," Hanabi hissed, raising her pretty head, and coming towards him with anger. Composing herself on the way, realizing there was no reason to start an argument in vain, she added, rubbing her hands together in distress, "Well, if you'd just give up coming around… I told you to leave me alone already!"

"Well, I can't do that...," the person said simply, as if there was nothing to crumble down that reasoning.

"I have enough problems to deal with. I'm closely watched. Every single moment, someone's keeping an eye on me. How will I even explain what happened tonight? Do tell me!" she really started to get worried, in the meantime.

"I'm just not again anywhere…," the voice said slowly. The person looked troubled, but stuck to the unchangeable decision. "And I'll keep coming back. Nothing ever really ended. You know it, too," it added with the same security, holding tight to its reasoning.

Hanabi sighed, probably finding the reasoning good enough herself. She had known she wouldn't get rid of these years ago, when it had all started, that it wasn't something she'd be able to let go whenever she thought it was the better for her to do so; that there may be no way out. With every passing day, she eventually started to believe it. Out of _this one_ trouble, there was no way out.

"We have things to talk about. You know that," the voice added, followed by another sigh from Hanabi. But this sigh reflected calmness and defeat.

"I know. I know we have," she stated, still and thoughtful, raising her head to look the taller person in the eyes, with confidence. She was not weak or fearful type, after all. So she might as well take this in her hands.

The other person smiled, with some kind of pride of seeing her standing up and facing her life, as Hyuuga Hanabi would normally do.

* * *

Back home, with her team all advanced to Chuunin now, not needing her any longer, Hinata faced loneliness and her sister. A while after coming back home, she found herself with Hanabi sitting in front of her desk, folding her arm, saying, "I know what you have in mind."

She remembered the conversation (as much as that could be called 'conversation') very well, afterwards. "…die as a peaceful Uzumaki, with many blonde, clueless kids like him," Hanabi had been saying among other things. Her words, bitter, her attitude, know-it-all - Hanabi hadn't used to be like that. In these last months, Hinata had thought about how she missed her sister, nevermind their relationship had never been really close. But she didn't want _this_ sister, anyways. When Hanabi continued with a "Leaving the matter aside, the others might also not agree with your other plan," all she replied was "We'll see," closing the door behind her.

The truth was, she was curious to see herself how that matter would end. She had no idea how Hanabi had guessed it. She really hoped no others would guess, yet; or, like, never, if it turned out it wouldn't work out.

This matter she was worried about was… future descendants. One day, she shall die. As ninja, you can't count on that happening very far in the future. She couldn't count on Hanabi getting married. The worst was, being women, they had to marry in the family, to keep the future leader as a Hyuuga. She did not want to marry for the well of the family. She guessed that Hanabi's ironies, about her _dying as a peaceful Uzumaki_, as the younger woman had bitterly pointed out, were truly unrealizable. She did not even longer hope in that matter. She'd just die unmarried. And she wouldn't force Hanabi into a marriage of sorts either, that was sure. Not any more bitterness between them was needed, thank you very much.

She knew, though, that a time when pressure concerning marriage would be set upon her would come. If she lived enough for that to happen. However, if she died without the matter to be solved, the pressure would fall on Hanabi's shoulders. It was kind of ironic, but the only way for _both_ of them to be eased of this would be for _both_ of them to die. And her plan would go perfectly. How dreadful it was to be a woman…

She almost wished to one day hear that Hanabi had run away, with no trace of her. Then she could fall on a banana peel or anything (because she wouldn't really have the chance to go on any mission or get in any dangerous situation, as long as being kept inside, doing paperwork), as much as shamefully it would be for a ninja to die so stupidly. But maybe stupid was to think like that...

"Forget it and get back to work," she told herself with a sigh. But, just then, someone entered to announce Uzumaki Naruto had come for tea. She left both the paperwork and her thoughts behind, going to greet him.

Naruto did not even ask how the 'intruder' matter was concluded. And Hinata, as soon as Hanabi had come herself to talk about something totally different to her, forgot about it completely.

Naruto came in with the thought of talking about Hanabi. He knew that, despite leaving Hanabi in Hinata's hands, an interrogation still had to take place. Before they had left, while the Jounin had been walking ahead, he and Gaara had been talking their last, with promises to see each other soon and everything. While they had talked, Gaara had taken a look at the Jounin, checking the distance being in between and, stopping Naruto mid-sentence, had spoken in a rather confidential tone, "Look, I know that you don't want to hurt anyone, but… you need to watch things with objectivity when the fate of a village is in your hands. Investigations have to be done completely so we can move on in this matter, do you understand?"

Of course he had. But thinking it was far from acting it. As soon as he was there, he started talking about other things. They weren't even important matters. They talked about the usual, casual things. Naruto joked and laughed like usually. They drank their usual tea; ate the usual biscuits; spend a usual good time. Until a thing out of the usual times happened:

"Hinata-sama, I bring you the report of that night's happening, as you requested in your letter," a Hyuuga came, an hour later, then left quietly.

She nodded as the Hyuuga left, the temperature suddenly decreasing around the tea table. Opening the scroll, she read it silently, just like the other time this happened, in Suna.

"Just like you said," she remembered what he pointed out back then, handing him the scroll. "No deaths. No injuries. What kind of intruder are we dealing with? A cautious one? Or just not a harmful one?" she asked professionally.

Naruto took a look at the report, breathing out heavily. "_A curious one_ would be all I can guess so far."

"We'll have to interrogate her, won't we?" Hinata opened that subject herself, in a grave voice.

"Right," he replied weighty. He was glad she was the one to put the verdict, not him.

"Let me tell her about it. And ask about the correspondence, directly. It's stupid trying to find something out behind her back."

Not long after that, Naruto left. Not really willingly, Hinata went to Hanabi's room, secretly hoping to not find her there, to delay the moment at least a bit. Unfortunately, Hanabi was there, reading something.

"You came to talk about the incident in the night you were left?" Hanabi asked as soon as her sister walked in, closing the book.

"Even further," Hinata followed in Hanabi's 'let's get this done already' tone.

"I will be interrogated…," Hanabi concluded emotionlessly, but her face betrayed uneasiness and nervousness.

"Hanabi, I avoided this as much as I could…"

"And you did badly," she replied sternly, looking straight ahead, at nothing in special.

"Hanabi, do previous letters exist? Or were the missing matters spoken?"

"Both," Hanabi continued looking straight ahead, talking in the same tone and keeping the same uneasiness on her face.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That I've been told about these matters face-to-face. That letters do exist. That I don't have these letters."


	23. Perfect resolution

Back at his not really beloved house, Naruto ate something in a hurry, took on more comfortable clothes and brought the basket with mission scrolls to the large kitchen table, making a lot of tea to go with it. Having been daydreaming all day long at work, he was far behind with his work. Well, he had been too far behind with his work even before this day, missed in daydreaming. He had been left for more than two weeks from the village, with the Genin teams. Of course, there had been someone left to take care of things like ranking and giving mission. There were things that he couldn't have let others to do, though. Things which were still undone. Things that he wasn't doing right now, as he should, and ranking missions instead, something that could wait. But it was also a more entertaining thing to do, unlike _those other hokagian stuffs_.

_Those other hokagian stuffs _included: making sure that laws are enforced, appointing important officials, granting reprieves and pardons, issuing Executive Orders, and coordinating the efforts of over 150 departments and agencies, supervising and deploying all the defense forces, meeting with military officers, as well as civilian national security advisors, negotiating treaties or agreements with other countries, recommending laws while advising and guiding the Congress in its lawmaking activities, evaluating the country's domestic and foreign position and suggesting what the Hokage would like to accomplish in the next year, keeping him informed on the needs of the nation and the reactions of the citizens to his programs. Or, better called, paperwork, that other damn paperwork, meeting and speaking over Anbu stuff with Kakashi-sensei, some more paperwork, meeting the other Kages, a lot more of paper work, and so on…

Thinking from that point of view, ranking mission sounds pretty close to making sand castles in the park. Talking about parks, the park for children in the South Area needed reparations, while in the East Area…

Boom, boom! There were knocks at his door. What time was it? Ten, the clock showed. Who was visiting him at this time in the night? Well, his friends never visited him there, though… Seriously? Never? Well, Sakura had been there once… when she helped him decorate. Boom, boom! Oh damn, it must have been someone bringing some news concerning _those other hokagian stuffs…_

Yawning, he moved slowly towards the front door, "I'm coming!"

"Hello," a tired-looking Hinata said, entering as soon as he opened the door.

"Hinata-chan? What are you doing here?" he laughed, seeing her so restless.

"I've talked with Hanabi," Hinata said seriously. Naruto nodded and sobered, too, leading her to the kitchen table.

"What happened?" he asked, serving her some tea.

"I told her about the need to have an interrogation. And I asked her about the corespondence. And I don't know what to say about what I found out," she replied, holding the cup between her hands tightly, looking at the vibrating liquid, as her hands trembled on the cup. Naruto looked down at her hands, too, then back up at her.

"Tell me," he said, putting his hands around hers.

She looked up at him and, taking one of her hands out of his grip, she pulled, out of the band of her kimono, a stack of letters.

"You said you couldn't find them," he looked down at them, widening his eyes, before looking back at her again.

"She did not have them."

"How comes that?"

"They aren't hers."

"Then?"

"These letters belonged to my grandfather, Naruto…"

"You mean…"

"I swear I don't know what's going on anymore," she leaned against the back of her chair, rubbing her temples in frustration, trying to arrange her thoughts somehow. "She told me I'll find what I'm looking for in our grandfather's remained thing, _if he hadn't taken the caution of burning them, _that's what she said."

"So there can't be the possibility of a betrayal against him," Naruto concluded, "He planned his own death."

"Yes," she agreed with a nod, still watching her cooling tea.

They spent a while in silence, each with their own thoughts.

"This complicates everything," Naruto stood up, rubbing his eyes.

"Shouldn't we announce the other Kages immediately?" she asked, looking tired.

"More than that, we need another meeting," Naruto replied, and then, all of a sudden, he laughed, "Oh Kami, we must be driving all the other villages crazy with this continuous confusion…"

"I doubt they'll go crazy before us, so stay calm about it…" She got up, walking out the kitchen. "Aren't you coming?" she turned back at him.

"Yeah," he awakened from his reverie, "Let's go. I should send someone to announce Kishisashi-sama to not come in the morning for breakfast. I'll just sleep at the office; wait for answer from the Kages there. Here, put this on. It must be really cold by now," he handed her a coat from the hallstand, and then took one for himself. "Geez, why did I even take this job?" he joked as they walked out.

"Same as why I took mine, probably," she smiled, "Someone had to do it, so that someone could as well be us."

"Right?" he replied. "Eh, what was I even saying? I love my job!" he stretched and crossed his arms at the back of his head, new forces and enthusiasm building up inside him.

"Now that's the attitude," she said. In the end, this was all about her family. So she had to stand up and deal with this.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, here goes the reply from Suna." The announcement woke him up. Jumping in his chair, he moaned from the pain in his back and neck. Damn, in these conditions, he'd need to retire by thirty…

Stretching his arm to get the scroll, he dismissed the messenger and started reading. Gaara was always this prompt and had the most adequate and helpful of answers. Stating his opinion on the letters matter in short he added he'd be in Konoha as soon as it was possible, saying that there was no reason or worth in discussing towards another meeting place, when Konoha had the resources for the problem they were facing.

"Hokage-sama, you have a visitor – says he was not expected today," another Konoha ninja announced formally.

"Not expected today? It's not the coffee I asked for _an hour ago_, is it? Let him in."

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I'll tell them to bring the coffee," the ninja left, inviting Sasuke in, who, as usual, did not wait to be invited and simply walked and seated in front of Naruto.

"I knew it was you," was the way Naruto greeted him. "You scared all of my workers, teme. So I know whenever they're announcing you, because they all have that look, as if they're secretly praying I'll just let you in," he said with a yawn, looking through some of _those other hokagian stuff_. "What brings you to my shelter?"

"Philanthropy. Sakura says you spend too much time here, working, or alone at your place, let me guess, working. We knew this job was all that you've ever wanted to do, but we've never expected for you to work always, too. She sent me with an invitation and you cannot refuse."

"But… we're getting through a crisis here. It's not like…," Naruto started protesting.

"You know you can't avoid this even if you're on your death bed, don't you?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows nonchalantly.

"Then maybe a restricting order?"

"You can hold nothing against us – we're best friends with the Hokage himself."

"Damn, you're right – I cannot compare to that."

"Thought so," Sasuke sat up, "See you on Sunday at six, dobe." And, just before closing the door behind him, he added, as if he had especially let that for the very last moment for its effect, "In the Uchiha District."

* * *

"Wow, you're having a rough morning," Hinata said as she entered the office, a couple hours later, at the sight of six cups of coffee on his desk, most of them untouched. No one announced her before leaving her enter the office, because the Hokage would always let her in, so why bother?

"You have no idea," he nodded, with somewhat of irritation. "I continuously asked for _one_ coffee throughout this morning, but the coffee let itself waited for long. None of the ones I asked brought any. And when they did, they _all_ did," he gestured towards the many cups.

She snorted, but instantly suppressed her laugh, at the sight of Naruto narrowing his eyes, a look which meant to say, 'There's nothing to laugh about – I'm living a drama in here'. But just that look also made it even funnier and she couldn't hold the laughter in any longer.

"Ok, be like that," he pouted, crossing his arms, in his childish characteristic way.

"Hokage-sama, here are the replies from Kiriqakure, Kumogakure and Iwagakure," the door opened once more, three more scrolls being deposited on the already ran out of space desk.

"Well, I see you have your to do," Hinata walked towards the door.

"No, Hinata!" Naruto squealed, seeing him left alone with the scrolls. "I'm sorry! Please come back!" he continued crying as the girl exited, still laughing.

* * *

In the midst of the chaos all the next meetings and events have caused, someone got to sneak and steal the order Inoichi should have had to receive, for Hanabi's interrogation. Having no missing information any longer, people totally forgot about it and never realized the lucky move.


	24. Upon the ruins built

They were sitting in Hinata's office, at a little fancy wooden table opposite from her desk, on red, comfortable armchairs. Tea, still warm, sat on the table, porcelain cups in front of each other, as they leaned over the little table, talking.

"…and he said how he was groaning and rolling eyes as Sakura and Ino were truly concerned about which of the eight shades of white was better for the tablecloth. He wanted so to escape from that, so he just pointed to one of them, and mumbled 'This.' And Sakura and Ino were like 'Right, this is way much better than the other two we were taking into consideration.' And before Sasuke to sigh in relief, Ino added, 'But now we have to go back and re-choosing the chairs' clothing, handkerchiefs and dishes, because those...' So he sat up, only saying he'll be back shortly, and came to my office. He just came in; talked casually, about anything he could think of. When there was silence, he looked around for inspiration. That was really strange of him. So I asked what it was all about. At first, he didn't tell me, but, after a while of both of us being silent again, he asked if I '_could tell Sakura there was some Anbu assignment planned for today and that's why I've been missing, because that's what I'll tell her. And if you betray me, you'll be responsible for my premature death_', in a really serious tone. I really believed it was something serious, until I made him tell me…"

With the reparations done at Sasuke's old house, preparations for an upcoming wedding were now made. The wedding was going to take place in a bit further than a month. Like any future bride, Sakura was very enthusiast about every single detail. Like any groom to be, Sasuke could not understand the importance of all those little details and did his best to escape from them, without giving Sakura the chance for insinuations like 'it's because you don't care enough about our weeding, or for me'. He did care about her. And about the wedding. About their present and about their future. But, while the abstract idea of all these was so tempting, the reality, the day by day events were extremely hard to deal with. He was more in his element when being gone in dangerous, risky missions than when waiting in line to buy the bread.

And he couldn't really talk about this. Not only that it could be misunderstood, but he wasn't that open kind of person, to reveal his deepest secrets and ask for advice. He was really happy about getting married, about the eventuality of having children of his own, but the true was Sasuke was scared. Now, how could he confess something like that to anyone? That _he_ was scared. He was afraid of falling in this area, more than he was ever afraid of failure at anything, in all his life.

The true was that, while Naruto continued insisting on him taking that leading part in Anbu, he was still delaying an actual answer only because his fears started to spread in every angle of his life. Because, every time he sneaked away from things like choosing dishes and handkerchiefs, he considered it as an act of cowardice. He felt like he was failing on such a high scale by not being capable of taking care of such little things.

His incapacity of acting normal and relaxed in a usual society circle, except for his fiancée and best friend, made him afeard of dealing with little children, starting unknown to him, even though they'd carry his genes. Starting connections with a random person is something, but this father-child connection that you're somehow bound to build by a bond created even before their existence, but that still needs that time, patience and carry to actually begin to exist… It's something miraculous and frightening to begin.

That Sunday, Naruto got to see it partly. Sure, he couldn't guess his best friend's fears, but Sasuke's usual awkwardness in a society and quite unusual thoughtfulness, even for him, made the blonde understand something more than a future husband's nervousness was what his friend dealt with. But to get Sasuke to say things he truly wants to keep in was incredibly difficult even for him, the one that, even without knowing and understanding everything, knew and understood the most about the Uchiha.

However, he trusted Sasuke was capable of pulling himself up off of anything that troubled him right then, in the end. Finbd the motivation to build that up, just like he re-built his old house, upon the ruins of a life.

* * *

"You know what, Gaara? I still wonder, why leave it in the hands of his granddaughter and die, rather than do things himself?" Naruto asked his friend one night, three weeks later, the accusation having been finished writing and sent earlier that day. The four Kages were to leave the very next day. Three of them had already gone to sleep. Just Gaara was left, having his last face to face talk for a longer period to starting tomorrow, with the one he considered to be his best friend.

"I think that he realized he was already very old. And this action would have taken a load of time until reaching its awaited success. He preferred to be sure. He got out of this at his decision, rather than being taken by surprise later."

"Do you think he planned the death of his son, too, as it seemed he did not want to leave it to him, but to a really young and not experimented young granddaughter? Is it possible that Hiashi did not agree with all these, so he moved to the next in line, getting his son out the game?" Naruto further wondered.

"As someone whose murder was repeatedly attempted at the order of his own father, I can say everything is possible," Gaara raised his shoulder, with a weak smile, rather nostalgic than bitter, "But we may never know now…. That was not mentioned in the letters. Also, I must remind you that Hiashi protected his daughter: that's how he was hit. Hanabi was the target. That's even more intriguing," Gaara frowned thoughtfully.

"You know," Naruto adopted a thoughtful pose, "the strangest is that Hanabi did leave us at hand everything we needed and answered anything when she was asked, without pressures to be made in that direction. You know," Naruto realized with a laugh, "we never even had that serious interrogation with her, actually."

"Really?" Gaara raised his eyebrows, sounding genuinely surprised. "Isn't it strange that she continued passing information to them, even though she was so willing to get out of this?" But before Naruto to have the chance to reply anyhow, Gaara smiled unexpectedly and kindly, adding, "But you won't really investigate the matter further anyway, right? And it has nothing to do with the fact that our problem is almost solved."

Naruto smiled back. "I'm not sure myself why I'm so stubborn when it comes to this…"

"Oh, I'm sure you will know soon enough," Gaara patted him on the shoulder and sat up. "I should go to sleep now. It's a long way home."

"Go. I'll just stay a little longer," Naruto waved to him.

As Gaara walked away, Naruto looked up at the sky. The sky looked like an endless sea of dark blue ink. The color itself gave him this peaceful feeling, but he did not think why it was so, just stared into the infinity with a gleeful expression.

* * *

As they were leaving Konoha, the Tsuchikage said to one of his subordinates, "I thought I won't live to see this problem ended!" And he did not...

* * *

**A/N:** _These chapters are hard to write (to let you know, there will be 30 chapter per total +Epilogue). Why? Because these last chapters are planned, named and because I know that, with the Epilogue written, everything will be over. And it just seems strange. It's been months since I've been writing this. Even more since I first planned to write it, since the first idea popped in, one night, while jogging. _

_So... 24! Just a little more to go, I guess. :)_


	25. Face the world alone

The news of the Third Tsuchikage's death caused surprise. Sure, he had been very old. It should had been expected he wouldn't live forever, but it still left people overtaken. As for the other four Kages, they had gotten used to him, even the old man had been harder to put up with. Also, that called for another meeting, to meet the new Tsuchikage.

The place would be Konohagakure. As the Mizukage pointed out, they _just got used to travelling there, now and then_. Bee wrote some verses, joking about how they should just get their sleeping bag and have someone bring them the paperwork and news from home, so they never have to move from Konoha's gates, 'just in case'. _By now, I could get to Konoha in my sleep,_ Gaara was also writing.

Naruto smiled reading the replies. It was good to know that the others were starting to get tired of all these business, too, and were now talking with irony and carefree about all these matters. That he loved his job, he would no longer deny, but Naruto started to internally freak out about how times were _never_ peaceful - simply, _never_. But, well...

* * *

"Naruto," Gaara shook his hand, "Remember how, a year ago, you were complaining about the very rare chances to see each other?"

"I had no idea what I was talking about," Naruto smiled, inviting him in. "Any idea about this new Kage?"

"Just that the Third wasn't the one to choose him."

"Ol' Tsuchikage thought he'd like forever, eh? Funny, thinking that he always complained about how he was too old for this and needed to retire."

"You aren't the suitable one to complain about someone's stubbornness," Gaara smiled. He wasn't the kind of person to do this frequently, but it happened quite frequently in the Rokudaime Hokage's presence only.

Funny how such things happen and how much importance they have for an entire nation. If Naruto hadn't been, as the future Rokudaime, the one to win the future Kazekage's affection, the countries could as well have been at war or just not so eager to help each other. If only a fact in these two persons' history had been changed, the history of two nations would have been changed, too. Indeed, the higher a person's position is, the bigger are his decisions' result's effect, in not only his life, but others', too. Some tend to think that, in the end, it does not matter who the leader of a nation is, because 'they're all the same'. Actually, every aspect of a future leader's history, character and relationships is important, in the end, being it recognized by others or not.

* * *

Before the Forth Tsuchikage himself to get to Konohagakure, news of him already did. With an accusation and a chance for redemption sent not earlier than two weeks before to the little countries and no reply still came for a final decision to be made, they said that the new Tsuchikage had taken a decision for _his_ country _already_, on his own. Iwa had declared war to these indecisive opponents, taking all the other Kages by surprise.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru commented thoughtfully that night, at Ino's new house, where more shinobi of Konoha were gathered, having heard of the news too.

"As allies, that gets us in a war, too," Ino said out loud what all of them had already realized. She was in her fourth month of pregnancy and had become really worrisome in the meantime. News of an upcoming war had freaked her out completely.

"Another war is not exactly what we need right now," Temari, who had accompanied Gaara to Konoha, said bitterly from Shikamaru's side.

"And it's not likely we'll have it," Sasuke said, generating a general silence. Sasuke usually was an awkward presence in a society, barely saying a word and answering monosyllabic. He was there only for accompanying Sakura, like every single time, so no one really expected for him to make his presence remarked anyhow, so it was quite surprising to actually hear a whole sentence from the Uchiha.

"Why do you say so?" Ino asked, breaking the silence.

"We have a stubborn Hokage. The Kazekage is good friends with him. Same is the Raikage. The Mizukage is a smart woman - she'll stay on the stronger side. And that's ours. This new Tsuchikage must be too stupid to oppose." He talked in short statements, but people had never needed long speeches from Sasuke to get his opinion, whenever the young man felt he had to say his side. He only did it when it came to job issues and always spoke confidently and shortly, like giving an order, even though he was only stating his belief in a matter.

"You say this will end however Naruto wants it to end?" Kiba asked, amused at the realization, as all the shinobi in his generation were, whenever thinking of how Naruto had started and how he ended up.

"Precisely," Sasuke smiled the same amused smile now present on everyone's lips, taking a sip of his tea.

A feeling of compassion towards their Hokage filled the atmosphere, even having people ignoring the possibility of a war and the strangeness of Sasuke being on the same track with everyone else. Later, they'd all remember this as a night of reflection and confession, the kind that all recall with nostalgia, even though they would never mention it ever again, like part of a silent agreement.

"You know, I have to say this...," Sakura began the collection of stories and opinions that would come that night from everyone in the room. "The fact is, after a few years, I started to look at him, paying attention to everything he was saying, and he had this way of making you believe, or at least hope, those things he said would come true. That, indeed, it's not impossible if you _believe it_. Inwardly, I hoped he'd make it, but I still thought, 'He won't make it that far. Dreams like these are equal to myths. One day, he'll fail'. But he never did..."

"I there anyone who thought he'd really make it?" Kiba talked again, "Remember the first Chuunin exam? I so thought I was going to lay him down! And then he was placed with Neji. Who didn't think _then_ 'Eh, he got this far, but that was it'..."

"Not the slightest clue _he_ would be the one to lay _me_ down," Neji himself spoke, with the nostalgically amused smile everyone in the room kept for the rest of the night.

"And did you all know that _he_ was the one to beat Gaara after the exam, too," Temari joined in. Most of the others had no idea and were genuinely surprised. "Like, not only that... I don't know what he's done to him, but after that, Gaara..."

And so it went on. The only thoughtful one of them was Hinata, who knew that, as they spoke, the subject of their discussion was in the meeting, _that_ meeting.

* * *

Later, as she was walking home, she noticed him, a man dressed in Hokage robes, sitting at the edge of the road.

"Is the meeting already over, Hokage-sama?" she approached slowly, not knowing what to expect.

"Naruto looked up at her with a stern and bored look expression she'd never seen at him and, taking one glance at his right, another one at his left, he raised his shoulders neutrally, saying in a dull voice, "No Hokage in here. Go look elsewhere, young lady."

Sensing trouble, she asked, kneeling next to him, "What happened?"

"Every single time I'm _this close_ to peace, it goes away with a puff! What is wrong with humanity?" he got up with restlessness, gesturing energetically, shifting his eyes aimlessly, "Why do some always have to find a reason to start a war?"

"And here I am, making compromise after compromise to make _them_ live happily! I feel like a salesman who presents his merchandise with so much optimism and enthusiasm, really believing they're what people need, but, in reality, no one wants to buy anything! Does humanity fear peace, or what? Are they engaging in all these wars to feel like they actually do something, feeding themselves with the idea that 'there was no other way'? Now I know why… I was tired in Suna. And why I'm tired right now. I'm tired of trying to sale my merchandise!" If Hinata thought that was something never to be expected from Naruto, the next part was even harder to believe. "Do they want to fight against us? Ok, I tell they go for it! Do our ninja and our allies want to response with their own move? Granted, that's fine with me! But I will take part in neither attacking with no sense or fighting back with no sense!" and, with that, he took off his Hokage hat and threw it away, not even paying attention to wherever it landed, then threw himself back on the ground, feeling tired and defeated.

Naruto couldn't remember meeting someone to equal the Tsuchikage or anyone he disliked so much. Not only ten like Uchiha Sasuke could make up a stuck up nose like him. He had came claiming he did what was right, that the allies had been way too indulgent in this problem, that too much time was wasted, that _all the others were incapable_.

Gaara, who possessed the most tact, had tried to explain him, as tactful as something like that could be explained, that all of this wasted time had been spent _exactly_ for the sake of avoiding another war, that the Tsuchikage had rushed in his decision, and should had have talked with _his country's allies_ beforehand.

But the Tsuchikage had stuck with his opinion. Then there had come in between the Mei, the Mizukage. And then Bee. And then finally Naruto, who had only shut up that far just to avoid being tactless, but the outcome had been the same, or even worse. But nothing had worked...

Naruto had soon walked out of there, not even waiting to hear the outcome of that which they called _meeting, _stating clearly that he was against it and, for another opinion, they had to look for another Hokage first.

Anyway, no good outcome had been approaching, that was a sure fact.

Hinata listened to his outburst patiently, silently agreeing. She waited for him to completely calm down, and then, biting her lower lip, she talked, at first low and restrictive, then growing in intensity and courage, "That's right. _You're_ right. This is all messed up. The world has always been like that, Naruto. They can't understand, even though you do. You're one leader who not only cares about how much power his village and he has, but also thinks of how the people are affected by having this power or not. That's why you are the best for this."

She went and picked up the hat, and then got back to where he was. Carefully placing the hat back on his head, she smiled brightly and continued, "This whole business is wrong. And we both know there is no person you did not bring on the right track so far. If not even you couldn't beat some reason into that one, no one can. So just let him do whatever he wants and realize the big mistake himself."

"But, it's war... It's...," Naruto started, clasping his hands with frustration, continuously getting up, and then sitting back down again, oblivious and unsure of his actions.

"Not our war," Hinata replied sternly, looking straight at him, but he was not looking at her.

"People will die..."

"Not our people."

"I cannot think that way."

"I struggle to do it, too, but we cannot redeem other one's mistakes. Even though these mistakes will affect a lot of other ones."

"I just want it to be good for everybody."

"But you don't have much power. Not in this matter. What could you do? Start a conflict with the Tsuchikage? No matter if the other Kages sustain you. It would lead just to a war of _ours_."

Naruto nodded absently, and then finally looked up at her. "Konohagakure will break the alliance with Iwagakure," he stated.

"That's the only way, for now..." Hinata reached her hand to him and he took it, with a weak smile, but still, it was a smile.

"What if the other villages won't? We part ways with them, too, lose all the allies?"

"They will," she assured him.

"Why do you think so?"

"Because you said so, she replied with a smile, raising her shoulders.

He snorted, amused. "And who am I for everyone to follow?"

"Uzumaki Naruto. And this explanation has been enough for most of people, in the last years."

He laughed a little and walked her home, then headed home himself. He didn't care to check how the meeting ended... if it really ended.

The next day, he found that Hinata had been right - the other three Kages decided to stay out of it, breaking the alliance, too. Yet he refused to believe he had anything to do with it. Naruto had no idea what effect he had on people. Most of the time, he just did what he felt there was to be done and hoped for the best. And, somehow, the best happened.


	26. Child's cry

**A/N:** _The reader signed 't.k.' was wondering when the action happening after first chapter would appear. Irony... This is it, 't.k.' . Yes, the story opened with its 'nearly end'. What can I say? I always liked puzzle type stories, so sorry again for the crazy timeline at the beginning._

* * *

The war started. The other big four countries, plus the Grass Country, with whom they had made an alliance not long ago, and who accepted to remain on their side and not take part in the war, they had their own preparations to do for it.

They took care to strengthen their borders' defences. A war creates chaos and it was very important to not let this chaos reach their people. The Hyuugas were especially useful in this, due to their eyes. Hinata had to be the one planning shifts and distribute duties, so they could also have time for their usual missions, which was a very meticulous, tiresome work, keeping her inside her office for countless hours every day. Also, she'd be part of the squads, too, at least two times a week, because staying in for so long was maddening.

She did not have time to see either her friends, godson and surely not Naruto, who had more requests and duties than she had. Last six months have been madness. She and Naruto hadn't seen each other for the last two weeks. Oh, wait, they did, for like a couple minutes, when she handed him yet another pile of reports and the new shifts program for that week. That was last Monday. Oh, damn, she had to hand him the program for next week in... What day was it? Saturday, the calendar showed. So she had two days.

The dates, those she remembered. She was writing them daily, in her reports, after reading them in reports given to her by others, which she had to summarize...

Oh, wait, but wasn't, this next Sunday...? She checked the date again. Indeed, a year. That would make it a year since then. Wow... Had everything happened just a year ago? And so much things happened in the last two years... How had it been possible for so many things to happen, for so many things to change? If she was to count, she would never finish listing the many states and feelings she registered throughout all of that time.

Oh, but yes, she had to tell Neji, the next time he brings another report, he and his family should visit on Sunday. Her godchild would turn one, so she could as well procure the time to spend with him. Also, she needed to buy a present, yes. Was Neji even supposed to come today? Maybe she should send a letter instead.

Ah, and what was there left to finish, for today?

* * *

"A message from Hinata," Tenten came in, opening a letter. "It's been so strange, lately... All this crazy schedule and talking through letters...," she was telling her husband while taking a short look at the letter's contains. Neji was holding the boy, who had just been getting ready for his bath.

"What does she write?" he asked. Noboru was starting to get restless in his arms.

Tenten smiled while reading, and said, "She changed your shifts. To Monday. She shouldn't have... I wasn't even thinking she'd remember. How busy she's been lately...," she added with compassion.

"Hm?"

"She sends her best wishes for Noboru's birthday and inivites us over?"

"And she re-scheduled for this?" Neji smiled, rocking slowly the impatient child in his arms, "Sounds like something she'd do?"

"Shhh," she whispered to her son, taking him from Neji, "Now enough with protests, young boy. You need to look just perfectly for tomorrow. We'll go and visit your godmother."

* * *

"Can you believe they're getting married? Who thought things would turn out like this for Uchiha?" Tenten was excitedly telling, carefully cleaning Noboru's mouth with a handkerchief. The little boy was clumsily trying to eat one of Hinata's biscuits, his little baby-fatty hand barely managing to hold it properly.

Although the wedding's had been delayed due to the not very recent events, the event was still an actuality, still discussed, still awaited. And just that usual clatter was something to completely disturb Hinata's train of thoughts. How things turned out from what they had been expected to, or what had been... it was something which always tended to surprise her and raise new questions. About how things so easily changed. About how they could change continuously. And not necessarily for the better.

Tenten didn't notice and probably most of people wouldn't, but Neji was immediately aware of the change of thoughts and mood in Hinata. Excusing himself and his family, he told his cousin it was the time for Noboru's nap (indeed, the child was yawning, his eyes half-closed, sleepy).

While exiting, they and Hanabi crossed paths. It was a rather uncomfortable meeting. Neji bowed his head respectfully. Hanabi ignored them all and continued to walk.

* * *

"Should I ask Naruto to change it?" Tenten was asking.

"That would be a second change, already. We'd put him in trouble with the schedules. There are no free Jounin to take the shift," Neji replied.

They were whispering, sitting and talking next to Noboru's crib, where the boy had just fallen asleep - his afternoon nap.

The thing was, the two of them had forgotten that, just Friday, they had talked to Naruto for a change of shifts, because there was no one to take care of their son for Sunday. Neji had been supposed to go on a mission on Sunday (the one mission that Hinata had delayed) and be back by midnight. And, until Friday, Tenten had also had a mission on Sunday. Friday, Tenten talked to Naruto and got him to change it to Monday. And now they noth had to be left on Monday. With no one available to take care of the boy. And they realized that just when they had got home from their visit to Hinata.

The fact was they couldn't just let the child with _anyone_. A ninja family always has to deal with this kind of problems. They, same as their children, are always in danger.

Tenten rubbed the edges of her forehead, uncertain. "Well... How about we leave him at the Manor, then?" she proposed.

Neji didn't show himself too content about the idea.

"I know Hinata has a lot of other things to do, but there are a lot of people to take care of him, there. The fact is he'd be safe there, with her."

"Yes, but... I don't know..."

"It's the best choice," Tenten insisted.

Neji thought for a while before saying, "I'll... go and talk to her."

* * *

"Another Monday, another list to begin," Hinata sighed.

Her godson was asleep by now, she'd been told. Good. As much as she had wanted to play with him instead, she had work to do. It was already nine pm. A great part of that work should had been done by then. But then... Yesterday, there was Neji's and Tenten's visit. And then there came Naruto, just when the ones mentioned before were leaving. And they talked for quite a while. After all, it had been a long while since his last visit.

There was general silence. No voice of men in the hose or outside of it, no wind outside. Not even an owl or something. At least a locust?

Agh, but what was she even thinking of? There was no time for daydreaming... Or nightdreaming? But that's considered to be dreaming in your sleep, so... Well, then it's still daydreaming even if it's night, because... well, that's some kind of logic!

"AAHH!" a cry echoed through the house.

She sat up instantly, alarmed. That was...

"AAHH!" And then this scream. And this one was...

She ran there, cursing whoever invented such things as door, all the way there, jumping and storming and slamming.

* * *

That Monday night, Sasuke and Naruto were both staying out, in the woods, under the glittering stars, resting after a rough training session. It was a perfect way to release tension from work and , sure, to spend time together and away from the loneliness they'd both have found at home. Naruto's situation was perfectly clear. As for Sasuke, it happened often, lately, for Sakura to have night shifts. As much of an adept of loneliness he had used to be, Sasuke had also learnt that loneliness was precisely what made him no good.

They were staying in deep silence. Unlikely, Naruto was quiet lost in thoughts. And when he spoke, he spoke something just unexpected. Sasuke had been aware something had been happening with his best friend. But this...

"They say the way to love is working, building the way to a strong relationship, but... I think it goes much deeper. You have to want to be there, to just... want to be there. Nowhere else. Whether it's a house or on the battlefield... she's there with you and it becomes the only place you want to be at. Friend, love, family, home," he replied to the blonde's question.

Naruto nodded to himself. That was all? Come on, there's more to expect from the '#1 most unpredictable ninja'!

"Teme?"

"Ah?"

"I'm going to tell her."

* * *

Hanabi was lying down, on the ground, looking pale, the green seal on her forehead glowing. _But how...? _

Noboru, the only other present in the room, was still in his bed, awake, was just sobbing quietly, looking strangely down, at the pale young woman. _How? _

Hinata sat on her knees. Bewildered, she demanded her brain to send the right impulses, to give her hands a push to move, working meticulously with bare hands and chakra. Pressure on the chest. Pump in chakra. Pressure on the chest. Pump in chakra. Pressure on the chest. Pump in chakra...

Her eyes started to water, like any time she felt frustration like this. The chakra she sent kept her stable, but just as long as she pumped it. The pressure was not enough to start the heart work itself. The chakra went in, but dissipated as soon, finding nothing to sustain its work. And she couldn't, or at least did not want to picture the moment she'd have no more chakra to keep her even like this.

"Come on, Hanabi!" he heard herself shout. A shout that did not sound like her at all - too high, too demanding, too sharp.

Pressure on the chest. Pump in chakra. Pressure on the chest. Pump in chakra...

Her nerves were boiling in frustration. Her vision was blurring. But she couldn't afford to take her hands off of Hanabi to clean them, biting her lower lip to bleeding. Of all things, _that_ couldn't be happening...

Pressure on the chest. Pump in chakra. Pressure on the chest. Pump in chakra... And it went like this for more than a couple minutes, but her chakra reserves faded each second, her faith was getting low, even though the strain went higher. And she moves her eyes to the whitening face of her sister, as her hands keep moving on the chest.

_So meaningless... everything... and then death..._

And then she winced, at the mixture of warm skin with powerful touch that came in contact when she pumped the chakra once again. And, once with the chakra she pumped, there went in another type of it. One she knew very well. She had felt it and used it. Back then. In the Fourth Shinobi War. A chakra not only extremely powerful, but that moulded perfectly with the one it was given to. _His_ chakra.

And she induced the pressure once more, after that. And it was done. The chakra spread instantly, perfectly, as if it had been made for that body - so naturally. And that last pressure, even though no different from the others before, managed now to put the whole mechanism in move, that incredible mechanism we call human body. And she could finally breath out, relieved, at the sound of her sister inhaling that holy air once more.

Another wave of chakra followed, filling her almost empty chakra channels. With eyes glowing with tears and the just come power her body was barely assimilating, she looked up at him.

He was looking back at her. And he gripped her hands, that were still under his, tighter. The way he looked at her was... Could it be...?

"Thank you," she whispered. Another scene, much like this, appeared in her mind. The one lying down, dying, had been Sasuke. But then he had come, saved the day, then left further, for other impressive tasks. And, back then, she was somewhere in the background. Admiring him from afar. And now here they were, face to face. "If you had not come, it would have ended badly," she added, taking one hand out of his' grip turning on her Byakugan, making sure everything was alright with Hanabi. And, yes, she was, undoubtedly, stable.

"If you hadn't been so tenacious, it would have ended long before that," he told her instead, with that same look, she realized, as her Byakugan went off. And his gaze turned towards something behind her. She turned and sat up immediately, he other hand slipping, too, from his, as she headed to pick up Noboru.

The boy had been silent all along, even though any other one his age would simply cry his lungs out, after being through something so hard to understand for a baby. He was just looking at the scene in front of him, his little arms raised in the air, his eyes widened, as if he was realizing what had happened was because of him. Hinata thought, at first, that he'd been through a shock, after all that had happened, that got him in a state like that. But, in reality, he was perfectly conscious. He just continuously shot the people in the room questionable looks. An intriguing thing Hinata noticed, everytime he gave Hanabi that look, he also looked at his little hands, confused. _This child..._

"I'll take her to the hospital," Naruto said, picking Hanabi up. "It's Sakura's shift. She'll keep it a secret, for now. I'm sure - even though I can't understand yet the circumstances - that this situation is not favourable for a child in the Branch family," she heard him say, pointing out something she avoided to think of so far.

Hinata turned to look at him again - that look in his eyes was still there - and nodded.

"Hinata?"

"Yes?"

"You should just know that from now on I... will be always there. And never let go of you."

Hinata narrowed her eyes as she watched him leave, holding the child carefully. All these left her simply flustered. She rocked the little child slowly and saw him soon falling asleep. Whatever Naruto's words and look from earlier meant, one only thing was sure about it - whenever Naruto made a promise, he kept it, whatever it took.

But another thought struck her. Intuitively, she turned on the Byakugan and had a look through the rooms around, above and under her. In the hall under that room, another pair of Byakugan looked above.

He had seen it - or at least a part of it. And he had waited for her to notice him, too, so she gets to know he probably knew everything - the Brach family's Elder.

* * *

**A/N:** It did not turn out the way I had it in my head ...the first time. But there's been these things going on lately... and I've totally lost my will to write, really. I had to push myself badly to get to write this, even though the chapter had been planned already. But... I just started to think that maybe I can't write **at all**. I don't expect the amateur writing I do in here to be something brilliant, but I just started to believe what I do is actually **bad**. Well... but then, there are people still reading this... I think. So I should finish it, because _abandon_ sounds so badly, no matter what you are linking it to...


	27. Anatomy of the heart

"Of course I am sure he never saw me doing that seal!" She had never used that seal, actually. And the question was simply absurd. Why would anyone use such a seal in front of a child of one year or less? And how would it matter? Who would really think it that far? A child. One year old. Using a seal. Knowing a seal. It simply made no sense... But, according to the old man's tale, it had happened.

Same as her, he had heard the child's cry, followed by Hanabi's scream. He had looked through the ceiling right after Noboru's scream and, in the interval of time between the cry and her scream, it had happened. Whatever had made him do it, however he had done it, the young child had controlled Hanabi's seal.

Still, the brain was the first thing Hinata had checked, at the sight of the glowing seal. It had not been something strong. Just a fast (maybe too fast) strike, the reason of the infarct that followed (the real cause of Hanabi's almost-death). And Hinata kept bringing this up. But the older man was still emphasizing his point: whatever was it that brought the situation to a climax, one thing there was sure: the boy had attacked a member of the Main family. And he had to be punished.

"We cannot punish a child that's too young to realize what's going on!" she shouted, totally outbursting in the face of that man she had used to respect so much.

"He did not know now - he's too young. He will not know tomorrow either - he'll be as young and unknowing as yesterday and as today. But that does not excuses anyone, if we permit this to repeat." And he said it straight: the boy was dangerous and so he had to be put the seal sooner. Hinata blinked severaly, overhelmed.

"What?" No, no, now wait a second! The boy had to be at least three or four to get the seal. A one year old boy cannot get through that sealing and get out alive. "That would kill him," she protested calmly. "Why hide and not officially sentence him to death?" she added sarcastically.

"Rules do not take age and ties into account," the old man shook his head slightly. Was he implying that she only refused to see Noboru as a danger because she loved the child? "We cannot put the Main family in danger because of a young child."

* * *

Tenten was not there when Hinata told him. She had left ahead, with Noboru. He had been the one to tell Tenten 'Go ahead' when Hinata mentioned there was something more they had to talk. And well he had done. _Better for her to not know yet_, was his first thought. And he voiced it out loud. Probably. He was barely thinking properly, after hearing what Hinata had had to tell him. He couldn't even understand at first. And when he did, all of the circumstances and their consequences dawned on him. Hinata told him something about leaving it to her, because she'd manage to solve it somehow, but he couldn't really pay attention to that. He could not see the way out of that. Destiny...

And he said he needed some time to reflect. And left for a walk. Just at the end of it all he did realize where he had been going to, and that he was mad. And he found Hanabi just alright, sitting, looking absently at the bed's white sheets. But, as soon as he entered, the anger flew away. And he stood there, perfectly calm, just watching her for some moments.

"I just came to talk...," he said sternly, closing the door without taking his eyes off of her.

"I see," was all she said, keeping a stern look, while looking straight at him.

"I just wondered...," but he trilled off, looking tired and undecided. Sitting in an arm chair, near her bed, he sighed, and then looked back up at her. "I did never... understand you. I'm just staying here, wondering, what's on your mind?"

"Of all the possible questions, I did not expect to hear, 'what's on your mind right now?'," she replied. "Well, as you entered, what I thought was 'This man... he's dealing with some trouble right now, but he was such a happy man...', now weren't you happy, Neji?" Surely _he_ did not expect _that_ question either.

He frowned, trying to understand the point of her question. Her face gave him no answer. Not just that Hanabi had never been easily readable, she had never been readable at all. And with all the anger he had been boiling into, before walking in, Neji was now perfectly calm, just trying to understand her words.

"I guess so," he replied, being obvious that she had been waiting for his answer before going to add anything more.

"So I've thought," she tilted her head to the right, in a way of describing it was just a matter of fact. "Neji, do you remember that I was supposed to marry you?" she asked, the expression of her features still unreadable.

"Yes...," he replied, still frowning, really confused of where this conversation could be leading at.

"But I didn't. Why?" she moved forward, but he still couldn't guess what the destination was. He did not have time to answer, anyway, because she did it instead, "Because that was _your_ choice. And your choice _could be_ granted. Do you think that, if I were the one to say 'no', my opinion would have counted?" Again, he was about to tell something in return, but she went on, not letting him talk, "No. Or maybe a bit. With the condition I found another worthy Hyuuga man to marry. Why? Because I'm a woman." As she talked, her voice turned from completely stern to slightly bitter. "A woman in the Main family."

"What has _my son_ to do with all this?"

"I did not want to hurt your son," she said sharply, answering a question that had not really been asked. "Not that I did expect for him to end up hurting me," she actually smiled a little at that, even though with irony, "Of course, he did mean to hurt me as much as I did... But that was something he couldn't control. Seems like irony to me. This power in a child and he's..."

"What were you even doing there?" he finally asked, interrupting her very confusing speech.

"I wanted to see him, only," was her answer.

"Why?"

"Just like that. I was curious..."

"Curious about what?"

"What does having a free destiny looks like?"

"What?" he snapped. Was that supposed to be ironical, or what? Nothing of what she said was making any sense, or connection to anything. "Where is all this leading?" Neji totally lost his temper by then.

"Really? Did it never cross your mind? Hinata did realize it, it seemed to me. And the way she reacted when I brought it up makes me believe it further," Hanabi stated, nodding slowly.

"What are you even talking about?"

"Let's say me and Hinata both die. Guess who's in line," Hanabi said, not even bitterly, not even insinuating.

Noboru was... Yeah, that was... Well, but that was just a matter of... But why would she even...? "Why would you even think of that?"

"Because we're in a circle of madness right now, linked to some really unfair rules, Neji... And I don't get how you can't get it. There was a time when this madness consumed _you_, remember? I was there, at the Chuunnin exam. You were fighting Uzumaki Naruto, our actual Hokage, even though no one would have expected him to become Hokage, back then.

"I know what you were thinking at that time... But you did not see things from the other point of view, too. _I_ got to see them. The Branch family is not the only one who can do nothing about their destiny, cousin." She was talking clearly and naturally, somehow resigned.

Neji still didn't get the connection, but started to understand what was going inside this young woman's mind. "Things aren't really like that..."

"Because Uzumaki Naruto said it? Uzumaki Naruto tends to say a lot of things. And people tend to believe him. He can talk about solving things, but he cannot really solve them. After all, he's a politician."

"Were these the reasons why you...?" he finally asked.

"I told you already - I did nothing."

"And the incidents, the complots?" it suddenly crossed his mind.

"I will not talk about that. You're here for your son - let's talk about him."

"My son is... You may have had no intention, I get it, but, because of you...," the rage started creeping in again.

"I know!" she cried. but there was nothing else she could add. Saying she'd do anything there could be done would have been useless, because, in the current situation, she was useless herself - what could she do? She had never felt so useless and powerless...

Neji raised his hand in frustration and put it back down again, overwhelmed. And then walked out, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

After leaving Hanabi at the hospital, Naruto had a run home, to have a shower and change his clothes. No chance for sleep for that day. Yet, unlike other times, he did not even feel he needed it, really. His mind was too wired, his energy too high.

As he entered the hospital once again, later that early morning (it was around 2 am), with the thought of asking Sakura about Hanabi, Naruto noticed Konohamaru waiting somewhere in a corner, looking gloomy. He had a deja-vu. Hadn't he seen his friend in the same situation, years ago, at his Hokage inauguration? He had never found out what it had been all about. He guessed Sakura and Hanabi had to wait for now.

But, in the end, none of them waited. Konohamaru flinched, noticing him from across the room, and ran towards him, while Sakura came from the other side. They both started talking at the same time, so it was hard for Naruto to understand a thing at first.

"Naruto, please make her let me -," Konohamaru was saying.

"Can you believe what he -," Sakura came in between.

"She doesn't understand! I-"

"I think he lost his sense! Do you know wha-"

Unusual, Naruto was the one with tact and awareness out of the three. Signaling them to shup up, he pushed both towards Sakura's office. Closing the door behind him, he turned to them, "Now talk," but seeing they were about to start talking athe same time again, added, "Sakura, you first."

"Thanks," she cleared her throat, breathing out soundly as leaning against her desk. "He wants to see Hanabi," she said shortly, loking up at Naruto. "How does he even know she's here, anyway?"

"I was in the next door compartment when you brought her," Konohamaru retorted. "And I would have visited her without asking anyone if there weren't all those guards. Why were there all those guards?" he asked, annoyed.

"Do you hear him?" Sakura exclaimed, pissed off too now, "He's all like 'poor Hanabi'. 'Poor Hanabi' almost..." By now, Sakura seemed ready to hit the youth. But Naruto was still confused. Hanabi? Konohamaru? She was a couple years younger than him. They couldn't have been classmates. And she was to stuck-up nose to be friends with Konohamaru and his friends.

"I don't know what happened with that child, but I'm sure she had no idea what she was doing," Konohamaru replied defensively, really confident about what he was saying.

"What now? You're trying to tell me she was possessed or something?" Sakura commented, bitterly sarcastic.

"No, she just... You don't know her," Konohamaru trailled off.

"Wait... Konohamaru, how well do _you_ know Hanabi?" Naruto talked for the first time, since entering that office.

"I...," Konohamaru seated himself on the nearest chair, "I... just do."

Naruto took a seat next to him, crossing his arms. "Are you in love with her?"

Konohamaru raised his head and answered loudly and clearly, "Yes."

"Since?"

"Years ago."

"More precisely?"

* * *

Hyuuga Hanabi graduated at only ten years old and became a Chunnin by twelve. The same year she passed that exam, same did Konohamaru, age fourteen. It was the year after the war. The two of them have barely crossed paths during the exam. When it came to the one to one battles, Konohamaru did notice her, though. He was surprised of how powerful and unreadable the young girl was, that was all. He had heard before of how the younger Hyuuga was considered a genius by the time she was eight, still the sight of the cold-blooded girl shocked him somehow. Yet, he didn't pay her further attention, even though he got to see her a lot of times. She was always taking up a new mission or spending hours at the training grounds. By thirteen, she was a Jounin.

One day, having some training himself, "I thought Hyuugas train only in their specially arranged places," slipped through his lips.

"We are not ashamed to train like any other ninjas, either. 'Tousan trains me there, but I don't need someone looking over me everytime I practice," she snapped back, sounding insulted. The way she said it really made him believe he had wronged her truly. He blushed, acting all clumsily for the rest of the training. Being seen like that made him all frustrated. So he ended up mad at her for the simple fact that he had looked and acted like an idiot in front of her. He felt like he should have apologized for what he had said, but the moment past and he ended up avoiding her as much as he could.

Sometimes, she passed by him when he was hanging out with other guys. At the time, aged fourteen, she was already becoming a stunning young lady. And teenage boys in Konoha didn't fail to notice. They whistled, cheered or called after her. Konohamaru felt shame for his friends, hiding his face. After the girl passed, one of them would comment with a laugh, "Boys, boys, don't bother anymore. She thinks herself too good for anybody!"

"Sorry for them," he told her one of those days, meeting her at the training grounds. Again, he had felt as the one who wronged her and thought that, at least this time, he could apologize.

Today, she wasn't training. With her long hair caught in a ponytail, she was leaned over some opened scrolls. At his statement, she looked up at him. She didn't act disturbed or pissed off, just surprised, "Hm?"

"For my friends, earlier," he explained, feeling awkward, running his fingers through his hair.

"Oh," she acknowledged, still looking with some sort of surprise at him, with the attitude that it was not an important matter and there was nothing to worry about. He sat down, next to her. Then, awkwardly, he sat back up. She responded to these acts of him with the same genuine surprise.

Still, even though he had no idea why he'd still be there, Konohamaru did not leave yet. He took a glance at the scrolls she was so focused on. Those were the kind of diplomatic documents his old grandfather had used to had, laid all over his wooden desk, in the Hokage tower. He remembered how the old man had always been so stressed and tired whenever one of these had showed up. And he told her those things, followed by the simply curious question, "Why would anyone be so interested in these?"

"I'm not. I just HAVE TO study them and learn how to write one myself," she replied, not trying to hide her displeasure towards her work. Not at all.

"For what?" he couldn't help but ask.

"For anytime I might need it," she raised her shoulders. She did not look as if avoiding to tell a better answer. She actually did not know when this kind of thing would be useful. Konohamaru was about to ask why could it possibly be necessary for her, but then he remembered who her family was. And that she was her family's heir. Of course she might need that. He felt stupid once again. Like, wasn't there any way he could disappear from Earth then and there? If there was a good moment to leave, that was it. But as much as it wouldn't have been polite for him to stay, it did not seem polite at all for him to leave just like that either. So he stood there, in awkward silence, while she continued studying, not disturbed by that.

"I'll... go do my training now," he said a minute later, leaving fast so he wouldn't see her reaction this time. Kami, why would he say that, all of a sudden? She was minding her work, not even bothering about his presence. He'd have palmed himself if that hadn't made him look even more ridiculous. The fearless son of Konohagakure had his limits, apparently.

Arrived further on the training fields, he eased his nerves, crashing and hitting everything around, with kunais or his bare hands. Tempted by curiosity, half an hour into the training, he shot her a look. Unexpectedly, their eyes met. She was the first to break the contact, looking back down, into her scrolls. He remained looking for some more moments before turning around. Had she been looking at him or was it just a coincidence? Well, he had been probably making too much noise. Of course. She was trying to read and understand those hard to comprehend documents and there he goes, destroying things and making noise. Well, if she wanted silence, why was she on a damn training field? he snapped at his own self. But then, the training field had been empty before he came to disturb, though. Again, he felt like the one who wrongs.

"I'm sorry, does all the noise affect your studies?" It escaped his mouth. Stupid. Of course that crashing wood wasn't a symphony! ...that was not the right question.

Her eyes, when looking up, reflected that constant surprise. Maybe it was not surprise. Maybe he was too used to see only the usual serious, impossible to read kind of look in her, just like anyone else. "Please continue with your training. I was supposed to go anyway," she thankfully still answered the right question, 'Should I leave?' , picking up her scrolls, after packing them carefully. Actually, as it seemed to him, at the time of his question, she was no longer paying attention, looking down, but through the scrolls, just waiting for the good moment to walk away.

It took some longer before Konohamaru to see her again.

* * *

**A/N:** For those who misunderstood me in the last chapter: what I said is I lost my will to write and the confidence in my writing, but that abandoning the story, especially when it's almost done, is **not an option**, and will not happen.


	28. Waste

**A/N:** _I'd like to thank you for the kind reviews - many thanks. 'Hey, it's not that bad - we still do read this, don't we?' did help a lot in getting stuck on this chair and trying to not let this story just like that, at the mercy of the fierce crocodile minding their miserable lives at the bottom of the archives (I have no idea where this came from...). Especially because I've dragged all the readers through a lot of holes in the plot schemes and these last chapters should finally answer the questions 'what the hell was that one doing there?' and 'what the hell happened that time?' and other 'what the hell's. So, if you're still willing to bear with me, I will also bear with this story._

* * *

Anytime he visited the training grounds, he found himself looking for her. He found it stupid, but he couldn't resist to it, either. Especially because she had not come again for over three months since that one time. Maybe she preferred the Hyuuga grounds, though. Or maybe she preferred more peaceful places to work, instead of having a hyperactive guy making noise all around.

Or, maybe, he should just stop thinking about that matter, really! Because he didn't care! Whatever was inside that girl's head, it was not his business.

When had the first thought of her pushed into his mind, he'd never know, but it had probably been a moment as stupid and pointless as the other ones to come. And it seemed that, even though not seeing her, he had a knack for hearing anything about her. He'd go to pick a mission and hear a mention of a mission female comrades of hers saying how they'd have loved to_ have Hanabi's hair_. He'd go and hang out with the boys and one of them would say... it doesn't even matter what they said, but he just felt an urge to punch them. But he had to remind himself that those were his friends, while Hanabi was... who the hell was _Miss_ _Hyuuga_ Hanabi? And when did he get to learn her name?...

He barely knew her. And he had barely exchanged two words with her or so (_two or so_ stupid _words_)... and now what?

"Konohamaru - Sarutobi Konohamaru - was your name, right?" was what she directly asked him, the next time they met at the training grounds, with no kind of greeting or way of announcing her presence. If he hadn't stopped it in time, he might have hit her with a Rasengan - or just aimed to hit her with a Rasengan, because he was sure she was perfectly able to avoid his jutsu.

"Hai," he answered with a perplexed look, and watched her just nodding to herself at the answer, then walking back to a bunch of sheets of papers and scrolls scattered on the ground, under the shadow of a tree nearby.

Konohamaru tilted his head to the right, arching an eyebrow as he stared at her. The moment she nodded at him was also the moment she stopped paying him any attention. He couldn't underestand at all what it had been it all about. Why would she want to know his name? Had he done anything? _Hadn't_ he done something?

_Well, her hair does look really good_, a voice inside of him commented.

He snapped himself out of such thoughts and started picking up his things. It was not like he was running away - no. But that was the best choice. He was not at all in the mood to endure saying or doing some stupid things - again.

"Are you leaving because of me?" she asked from her spot - thought she had not longer been paying attention to him. And she wasn't. Her eyes were still stuck on her papers and scrolls.

"Why would I?" he acted as naturally as he could, "I was just about to leave."

"You started just around half an hour ago," she said, still working on her scrolls, writing continously. How did she...? "I... was just behind you, on my way here," she added. _Did that sound as if just realizing she said something wrong?_ "Well, maybe not really _right behind_ - you were faster." But he was not paying too much attention to her tone, but to the awkward situation he was in.

"Okay, I was leaving because of you," he had to admit, in order to get out of the awkwardness.

"Why?" she looked up and narrowed her eyes at him - though not in an angry way, just puzzled.

"I just... don't like... _anyone_ standing and looking while I'm training," he lied with a raise of his shoulders and some kind of restlessness as he tucked his hands in his black, large trousers' pockets - his usual reaction whenever he had to answer something he didn't want to.

"I was not looking!" she snapped unexpectedly harshly, but then, composing herself, "I am sorry. I should be the one to leave." She started gathering her work. She was really organized, he saw - every sheet of paper seemed to have its own exact place in that pile.

"No, no, really...," he finally put himself together and walked towards her, "Really, I don't even feel like training anymore. I am going to leave. You can stay and go on with those... things," he gestured restlessly as he spoke.

"I... am leaving, too," she raised her shoulders and picked up a box in which everything was already in a perfect order.

Why would it have been socially unacceptable for him to add now, 'Oh, good, then I'm staying.' Instead, the polite thing to say was, "Alright, then we could walk back together, I guess..."

"I guess we could...," she answered in the same just-to-be-polite-but-it-would-be-better-if-I-weren't way, holding tight to her box as they started walking awkwardly.

"Er, why did you ask about my name?" he dared to ask, because, really, asking that silly question seemed better than the foolishness of perfect silence.

"Just so...," she replied, looking down, counting her steps. _Just so what? _

"Are you training there all the time?" she asked then.

"Mostly... Except when I'm left out the village, of course," Konohamaru replied to what seemed to be polite-question-to-get-along-until-we-get-rid-of-each-other. "But _you_ don't come around that much. You weren't there in months," he added, immediately questioning himself if it had been alright for him to admit observing her absence.

"Yes...," was all she said for then, biting her lip as she looked down, as if trying to figure out what else to add, "You see, I'm supposed to learn a lot of things in a shorter period of time... and I don't seem to get much ready when I'm on the training grounds because...," she stopped. It was clear on her face that she had just said something she wasn't supposed to.

"So all of my racket did not disturb you work, eh?" he grinned instead of being anyhow angry that she finally admitted on that, showing off the little midline in his teeth.

"No, that's not what I meant!" she contradicted him, messing up her face in laughingly resentful way - which made her look rather lovely. "I..."

"Uh-uh," he shook his forefinger in the air as in 'sorry, no way to counter that now'.

"I mean, yes, the 'racket' does disturb my concentration...," she started.

"Uh-huh..."

"...but..."

"But?"

"... that's because what I do is really boring," she said bluntly.

"What does it have to do with it?"

"Well, you saw those scrolls once, didn't you?"

"Yeah - they are boring..."

"And would you have chosen that over your 'wood chopping'?" So she actually saw he had been kind of chopping the woods here and there, that time.

"What you say is that you envied my more entertaining activity?"

"Precisely."

"Oh, come on..."

"What?"

"You can't do such boring things all throughout the day, to be so bored as to envy 'wood chopping'."

"You'd be surprised," was all she said in return and grimaced, looking back down.

"Hey, then why did you came back?" he tried to change the subject.

She looked troubled at the sound of that question and bit her lip and said nothing for a while. It made Konohamaru think that maybe that had been the end of what could have turned into a conversation. But then her head lifted back up and had her saying, "I guess I must have looked for a distraction on purpose," with a sincere little smile. "Oh, we're here," she added and he looked ahead to find they were just reaching the Hyuuga District - they had passed his house long ago...

* * *

Still not knowing how to manage all this, Hinata put on some ninja, comfortable clothes, caught her hair in a ponytail and headed to the hospital. Would it be wierd to go to her father's grave, to ask him what she should do?

It was around four in the morning already and there was no way she could afford to sleep - not that she could, if she had tried.

She hoped Sakura's shift was not over yet, so she could get in and have all the information she needed without being questioned anyhow. She was not in the mood to give explanations, when she was the one looking for explanations to begin with.

The people working at the hospital knew her. They did not hesitate a second before leaving her in, no matter the time, and did not stop her from going straight into the deputy director's office.

There, just as opening the door, she found herself stared at by three pairs of eyes instead of one. Around Sakura's desk, there were also Naruto and a younger shinobi - Konohamaru was his name, she recalled. Sakura and Konohamaru looked tired, worn out, even frustrated by something. On the other hand, Naruto seemed all fresh and full of energy - without being restless at all, looking perfectly serious.

"Hinata," he nodded in her direction. "Come in, come. Here, have a chair. Hanabi's alright, don't worry. Actually, she was even awake for a while. She's asleep now, but rest seems to be everything she needs, dattebayo," he summarised it all for her, in his usual fast way of talking - actually, the kind he only used anytime he was nervous, but the present ones did not realize it.

Sakura only had to nod in agreement.

Hinata hesitated to tell anything because of Konohamaru's presence. She could not understand what had brought such a group of three together, but surely it was a whole different matter and she felt as the intruder.

She was not even sure if to speak about her problem to Sakura, either, even though the pinkette was trustworthy and very smart and could have turned out as helpful.

"But, geez, it's late," Naruto continued talking, being the only one of the four to fill the silence, "Let me guess that, same as us three, you had no sleep. Eh, Sakura but we kept you busy for quite a while. When will your shift finish?"

"In two hours," Sakura replied with a yawn. "Thanks for the company. Now, I should check how things go once more, before the shift is over," she sat up. "Konohamaru, go back to your bed," she pulled up the young man, too. "Hinata, don't worry about Hanabi. She was brought here in a very good state. Have some rest, now. You need it. I'll make up something in the papers if you want what happened tonight covered," she turned once more to Hinata.

"Just write down the infarct," Hinata raised her shoulders. "It doesn't really matter..."

"Alright," Sakura just nodded, taking Konohamaru out with her. It could have only been her impression, but Hinata thought that the young man shot her a strange look.

"Hanabi and Noboru - they were seen," Hinata let it slip as soon as the two were out, interrupting Naruto, who was just opening his mouth to say something. She burried her face in her palms, feeling her head to have ten times of its usual weight.

"And what does that mean?" she heard Naruto's perfectly calm question. And she told him about the discussion with the old man, uncovering the upper side of her face, just to be able to see his reactions as she spoke. At first, he seemed surprised, the surprise slowly turning to concern.

"And there's no way out? As the leader, you cannot change it somehow?" he asked after a while. It was the kind of matter that would have normally had Naruto fuming, so she was surprised to see him so calm.

She smiled weakly. "You know it well, too: being a leader is more about duty than about privilege."

He smiled back, same as her, "Oh, sure I do."

The door was slammed open. "Is Hokage-sama still...?" a voice was questioning imaptiently, before being answered by sight of the figure still sitting on his chair.

"Is there an emergency?" Naruto sat up at once, frowning.

"Hai!"

* * *

As Neji walked out, Hanabi catched a glimpse outside the room. Her eyes registered a pair of Hyuuga shinobi guarding at the door. The thought of how, despite how absurd it seemed, those guards were there because she was supposedly dangerous made her smirk for a second, and then slipped, as any other thought did, when, just before the door closed, she noticed something else: Sakura was passing down the hall just then, followed by a person whose image made her heart pound loudly once, then stop pounding.

The last thing she knew was there has been the horrifying sound of someone simply choking. And, as Hanabi'svision darkened, it took a slammed open door for her to understand that sound had been made by her.

A muffled cry echoed, combined with the sound of the slammed door, "Hanabi!"

* * *

"Hanabi!" he called her from the top of a tree. He was still trying to get used to calling her name just like that. But she had grimaced when he had added politeness pronouns, at the first meeting after that first time they talked. It's not like they became friends or something. They were just... acquaintances of sorts, he guessed. Just not strangers. They greeted each other, sometimes spoke a few words. He just spoke his mind, just like in anyone else's case, since he had found out that Hanabi was 'a normal person', like anybody else.

"What are you even doing up there?" she cried back.

"Watching the sunset."

"It's only past noon."

"Yes. And I'm going to wait here for the sunset."

"That's stupid and a waste of time," she retorted bluntly.

He jumped down with his usual grin and usual teeth midline. "Basically, everything that doesn't end up in winning and achievement is catalogued as a waste of time. So, if there's a chance it's all going to be wasted time, in the end, I can as well take a break from work, once in a while. I can work hard and get to realize it was only wasted time, later. Or I can relax, knowing from the very beginning that it is a sort of wasted time. The purpose is that I won't regret not doing any of them, so I don't waste it all."

"I swear I didn't get a thing of what you just said...," she shook her head slowly with a sigh.

"Where were you going?"

"Oh, I'm just going to do some paperwork at the training grounds," she raised her usual box for him to see.

"So you're planning to _not_ do some paperwork at the training grounds," Konohamaru laughed. "What you're doing is called break and it's exactly what I've been talking about," he added, leaning against the tree. "Hey, don't you want to stay here and just watch the sunset instead?"

Hanabi blushed, holding tighter to her box. "Er, thanks for the offer, but I'll really try and work this time..."

Just long after her figure faded through the woods, he got to realize that he had just invited a pretty girl 'to watch the sunset with him'. Well, he really didn't mean to make her...

That had been so stupid!

* * *

**A/N:** _There should have been quite a lot to say in a single chapter, but only this much I could give it. Halfway through, I decided to organize events in a totally different way and so I've been cutting and pasting parts and cutting and pasting parts back...  
_


	29. Wasted (continued)

**A/N:** _Oh, wow... Look, many reviews stated how I shouldn't let the lack of reviews make me give up on writing... Guys, even though reviews (praising or criticizing) are a wonderful gift for any writer, I'd like to make it clear: my writing breakdown is due to events and reasons outside this site or any other. It was not an attempt to get attention for reviews. I had these thoughts of disappointment I had to share with someone and I found it good to do that here, basically anonymously._

* * *

"Thank Kami you were here, Naruto. Your capacity to mold chakra is incredible..." _Sakura-san?_

"Two infarcts in less than 24 hours... Even though not knowing a freaking thing about medicine, I can guess that's a lot." _Uzumaki Naruto?_

"Hanabi is stronger than you think." That was a strong, confident statement - accepting no countering. _Hinata?_

What had strength to do with the current situation? Maybe it was a situation that required strength, but she could not make up a lot of thing right now. Why was Hinata talking about strength? Was Hanabi strong, as such a confident voice stated? And it was maybe abnormal that 'confident' was now connected to what many had called 'weak'.

Ah, but she knew that Hinata was not strong now either - in many ways. Though she had watched, somehow amused, how people had seen Hinata standing high and straight lately and told to themselves 'that girl was weak, but she's strong now'. But things don't really work like that.

Hinata wasn't changed at all from who she had ever been. And she couldn't really say Hinata had been 'weak' all along. That she had been weak back then. Or that she was weak now. Not at all that she was strong now. But these labels - strong and weak - _they were quite intriguing_, she thought.

* * *

Hanabi fought Hinata for the first time when she was around three or four. Not that she really understood why that had to happen, but it was something she was asked to do and she did fight. And even though she really had no idea what that meant, she put Hinata to the ground and that day their father shook his head disappointed in her sister's direction.

She did not know what his shaking of the head meant, but it looked like something she did not want for herself. And so she tried to avoid that to happen. It seemed, from where she looked, that Hinata was also trying to avoid that to happen again for her, too. But she couldn't understand why it did not seem to work for her sister as it did work for her.

They sparred more other times from then on, until a day when, as they fought and things seemed to go from bad to worse for Hinata, Hiashi raised a hand for the fight to be over and just walked out without a word.

And from then on, Hanabi did not train with Hinata any longer. At the time, she did not know what all this meant.

* * *

Just when to the usual training started there started to be added serious discussion concerning leadership, Hanabi started to get where it was all going. And she was not only under the constant supervision of her father, but also her grandfather's. This last one mostly scared her somehow. She was not really afraid of him, there was nothing threatening she found about the old man, but there was simply a feeling of uneasiness that wouldn't let her in his presence. And she felt the pressure of not allowing herself go weak more than in her father's case.

By that time, she was seven. At the age of seven, two very intriguing things that marked her profoundly happened.

First, she heard about the confrontation between Hinata and her cousin, Neji, and that her sister ended up gravely wounded in the hospital. Now, she did not dare to ask her father, but she did ask other people about it, because she found the situation very confusing. And they answered that these fights were meant to be serious and many are wounded even by friends, but there's not something abnormal about it. They gave the example of one Genin named Rock Lee and how he may never be a ninja again - the shinobi path was a risky, serious one.

But Hanabi asked about that. And it seemed that this Gaara of the Sand, the one Rock Lee had fought, was truly scary and there was nothing to be done about him. And, otherwise, no other Genin of Konoha got it as bad as Hinata.

It was just that, even though she did not really know Neji particularly, he was their cousin. And it was generally something in his attitude towards Hinata that she found troubling, despite all of that blabbing about shinobi and normality. Not when her sister came later than three weeks after (and seemed alright) and simply made her shudder when, passing along the hallways, she heard Hinata starting to cough at once. And not the beginning of the coughing startled her, but that it went on and seemed to not come to an end. She had no idea how much it lasted, but she stood there, telling herself constantly that if it would last just a bit longer, she'd walk in or at least found someone to help, fast. But the coughing stopped, in the end, and she walked away fast, as if afraid the coughing would start again.

The second event was the Chuunin exam. Her fathers had her sit next to him and watch the battles. And she heard a story she first doubted to be true. She asked her father if it was true, but he did not answer her and just continued looking at her cousin. She had never seen such a point of view of their family rules. But, that day, things started to slowly reveal themselves in another light.

* * *

By the time she graduated school, at ten, things started to get even more serious in her preparation. Now, she had even a lot more things to learn, a lot of legal matter, family seals and regulations, constantly sit down and scan different type of documents, more than fifty pages long documents she was supposed to assimilate after one reading, which was simply impossible. So, at night, she'd sneak and take them for a second, third, fourth reading, staying long hours, at night, with her back arched, her head bowed to read, sentence by complicated sentence.

She had a lot of lessons time with her grandfather now and, it seemed to her, he was watching her even more closely now.

She became Chuunin at twelve (only because the other members of her team weren't yet ready for an exam in their first Genin year) and a Jounin shortly after. By fourteen, she had a lot of missions, a lot of work and little did she know that it would get harder to be Hyuuga Hanabi pretty soon.

* * *

She tried to gather her thoughts and make out the events that led to her lying on a bed, feeling so powerless. She doubted she could lift a finger if she tried. She was sure she was not wounded. But she was simply exhausted. From every point of view. Thinking, or at least trying, gave her a headache.

"I don't know which the circumstances were, but, for now, they both stay outside. Having suffered an infarct, she was not supposed to get through the least of shock so soon." Shock? Infarct?

Oh, the pain. The lack of air. Infarct. But was it a shock? She'd call it merely surprise, she though, as she remembered what was it - she saw him. She just didn't expect to see him again. Well, that is much to say... He'd have eventually got to her somehow, she supposed. But maybe just enough time could have passed, to make it possible for her to... Forgetting him was stupid to ask from herself, but at least get a bit of... indifference? If that was possible?

* * *

"Boys, boys, don't bother anymore. She thinks herself too good for anybody!"

Hanabi was not preoccupied by boys and, really, she couldn't stand most of them. But she did feel the characteristic pride as, when passing by, she heard their whistles, cheers or them calling her name. She found all these disgusting, but, at the same time, it fed her feminine ego. But the proper idea of relationships and crushes had never even crossed her mind - no worth to even mention such.

So she didn't even have the knowledge to put her defenses up when someone like Sarutobi Konohamaru came her way. Not that she knew he would be 'that boy' at the time, not just a little hint. Of course, as in any other girl's case, she saw him as 'different from any other'. Not that Konohamaru wasn't a very 'just as one gentleman should be', not that he was ugly, or disrespectful, or bad-mannered. But love always emphasizes all the good traits in one. The thought of them makes you dizzy and has you dreaming. And she was caught. She did not know that for long. And she told herself it was nothing bad in befriending someone like him. He was really nice. He was funny. Sometimes unpredictable. Always interesting. Not at all anywhere near perfect, but perfect for her.

At first, she'd just meet him by chance. And then she'd make all the possible to meet him... until the days she, at her own will, stopped seeing him at all.

* * *

The day Hanabi started to think that maybe her thoughts were not only of mere friendship for Konohamaru was the day just the idea of a possible marriage between her and her cousin, Neji, was mentioned. A cold chill ran down her spine, not because she really had anything about marrying someone like Neji, but because it had never crossed her mind, this 'marriage' part, not marriage as a leader's responsibility of bringing heirs, not marriage itself.

And when it was brought up as a real possibility, she could breathe out relieved, as Neji already had other plans. But, from then on, she had it set in her mind, that it was not an everlasting escape. The time would come when there would be no other choice than to follow rules and tradition, keep the heirs as part of the Hyuuga family - marry a Hyuuga. And it wouldn't have been such a big deal, if thing hadn't looked brighter on the other side. If she hadn't start to link 'marriage' to that feeling of belonging. Of easiness of sharing hardship. And Konohamaru got to be the object of such thoughts.

And in such times, her thoughts got back to Neji's story and freedom. What was freedom? And that was not a rhetorical question. She really wanted to know the answer.

But further events, all unrelated to marriage, got her doubting even more that the boundaries of her own freedom were too far from reach.

* * *

**A/N:** _Well, the story might have a couple chapters more than I initially predicted, but that's it..._


	30. Chaos waking

"I think she's awakening," Sakura noticed, abandoning the conversation with the other two to make a few general checks on Hanabi, whose eyes were now open, searching clues on what was going on around her. Slowly, at first only three shadows on the background of the room's constant whiteness, the figures of the three present ones materialized.

She was in a hospital, right? Why was she in a hospital? Ah, right... The other day...

* * *

As she walked past that little family of three, her gaze was caught by the little creature sleeping so very peacefully in his mother's arms. Innocent... Unknowing... Free... He may have been destined to a life as part of the Branch Family, but, at least for now, his forehead was clean. His destiny was yet to be built and he could still see the world without being labeled as a certain part of it. It made her curious. Because she couldn't remember it well. She couldn't remember anymore how a clean path looked like, even though this clean path was certain to not last for him, either.

She felt a silly urge to go and look closer at him, try to understand what this innocent boy felt, as stupid as it seemed, because such a little thing was still unaware of anything around him. And maybe that's exactly what made her so curious. That feeling of being unaware of your surroundings. Unaware of responsibilities. Unaware of guilt. Because who would not find excuses in the mistakes of a child? The actions of a child can be explained and understood so easily. And she missed being understood without trying hard. She missed a lot of things that this little boy still disposed of.

She was very surprised when Neji and Tenten came back with him, later that day. Once again, she felt that urge to take a closer look. But she knew it would have seemed strange for her to just go there with people looking at her, people she'd have had to give explanations to. Why would she come around? Because she was simply curious to see him. That would have been so easy to say, only if people had also understood what she meant.

So she waited like a thief for the perfect moment, after anyone else had gone to sleep. Her sister would be in her office for countless hours. She knew that from her own experience. So she could as well sneak in for a moment. Just a few minutes. The child was asleep, she heard them say. So no one would know, not even the boy himself.

She walked in silently, closing the door gently. It was so quiet inside, she could hear his calm breaths as he slept.

"Noboru was your name, right?" she whispered as the image of the little creature became clearer with each of her steps. So she heard them calling him during the day, when people had been literally fighting to get to stay a while with _such an adorable lad_. She walked closer. The sound of his slow breaths was also getting louder.

"I never saw you from close. But you probably have _the eyes_, don't you?" She stood there for a couple of minutes, just checking him out. She couldn't remember seeing babies before and it dawned on her that this one was also a relative of her. Shouldn't she like... feel something regarding that.

The baby started stretching and yawning, his eyes still closed. And his little, fat hands stretched and retreated as he frowned. He was obviously searching for something and couldn't understand where that thing was or why it wasn't there, if that was the case. After a while, he gave up pouted, and rubbed his eyes, trying to raise his head and sit. As he did so, his eyes opened and widened at the unexpected presence in the room.

Oh, yes, he definitely had _the eyes_.

Noboru turned his head to the side, with a quite confused look, searching her face for evidence she was not a stranger. Luckily, he must have met enough people with those eyes and hair, to give him the impression that he must have known her, even though he couldn't guess who the person could actually be.

Hanabi didn't know what she was supposed to do. If she walked out, the boy could possibly start to cry for being abandoned like that and, in the rush of coming at the child's aid, someone could see her leaving from that direction. Yes, she was a ninja, but same were most of the people in that place. So she guessed that the child must fall back asleep at some point, so she decided to wait a bit.

"How much takes for a baby to fall asleep?" she whispered more for herself and turned baffled when the child's shoulders rose a bit, looking at her with those big wide open eyes. _Did he just answer my question or...? _Were children his age supposed to understand that much? She doubted that. Maybe it had been just a coincidence.

"Now, you cannot be _that_ smart," she whispered again, narrowing her eyes. At that, the child pouted again, looking somehow upset, it seemed to her.

She looked back at him with a puzzled look. Such a strange child... Were all children like this?

But then she smirked ironically. Giving the matter a second thought, could it be that ironically, once again? Whatever was about this child, it did seem to be something about him and Hanabi couldn't help but think destiny was a strange thing. He was watching her with a great curiosity, curiosity she was sure matched the one shown on her face.

"You won't go to sleep, will you?" she asked, sitting up. "Why, when sleep is such a delightful thing. Even grown-ups can be free in sleep, so what more to say about youngsters like you?" she said, her voice hollow, same as her eyes as she stared down.

"But, really, you maybe won't think so, but you'll always be free, unlike a Main Family member," she looked up at him once again, her eyes showing coldness and resentments she couldn't hold back, even though she knew she should. "Being leader of many doesn't necessarily make you leader of your own self, you know," she spat it out, every thought of anger and despair coming back to haunt her. "What does the Branch Family knows about not being the owner of your fate?" she hissed sharply, the sound scarier than if she had shouted it.

The little boy started to look afraid and probably started doubting the young woman before him was one good person who meant him no harm. His eyes widened slowly and he started to grasp his blanket tightly. Smart or not, he was a little child who understood little in terms of how world worked and acted on instinct, finding a threat for hunger, pain or any other displeasure. And what he was facing now, he sensed it as greater than any harmful displeasure so far. Not that he knew what to do about it.

"Tell me!" Hanabi hissed once again. Of course, she was perfectly aware a child of one could not 'tell her' anything. "I have nothing against you, but sometimes I just wish I died and that she died, too, so that you could see it - just see it!"

Had she turned all scary by then, she did not know, but he did look scared. One single cry, a high-pitched one, escaped his throat, as he held tighter to his blanket.

Another one came from her. It was not the hurt, but the surprise. Something burned inside her head, a quick burn and if it hadn't been for the short-timed greenish light that came and went into the otherwise mostly dark room and the obviousness of its source, it wouldn't have been such a shock, but it was. It hit her mind more than it hit the actual brain and, following the burn inside her head, something more painful struck the inside of her chest. And she collapsed, even though she had no idea why. And, as she did so, she saw the child looking even more confused by it than she felt.

But this was the path she'd been taught to take and she was not sure she had the guts to take the responsibility of leading things her way, especially because she had no idea what this other way could be in this situation she had been thrown into. To avoid being overwhelmed by such thoughts, she worked more and harder every day, avoiding any other preoccupation.

* * *

As they waited outside, Neji found the other young man's presence questionable. What was he doing there, obviously waiting at Hanabi's door, too?

Konohamaru sensed the pair of eyes staring at him and looked up. "I stay in the next-door compartment," he said bluntly.

"I don't see you inside that compartment," Neji replied in an equal way. They had their eyes fixed on each other, lying against opposite walls of the hallway.

"What I said is I'd _normally_ be in there," Konohamaru responded.

"Then what's the abnormality of being out here about?"

"To say it frankly and simply, we're both waiting at the same door."

"You, fool...," Neji snorted humorlessly, quickly making the connections. "You seem to be losing your sanity for a pretty face..."

Konohamaru looked genuinely amused, holding in his laughter. "In moments like these, you do seem to be relatives."

Neji looked intrigued by his statement.

Konohamaru added to it, "Something like this, she told me," he said, looking up absently, nodding knowingly. "She said these words as if this was the greatest mistake. As if... she just knew better. That I didn't know what I was doing... what I was getting into..."

"And you do know what you're getting into, then?"

"There's no _getting into_. I'm already there."

* * *

"May I talk to her? Alone." The other two turned around to look at him. The one asking, all of a sudden, to have a private conversation with Hanabi was Naruto.

"_I_ do think we should talk, too," Hanabi was the one to answer, before any of the two others could. She was actually surprised that she managed to mutter that thought, in spite of that general weakness in her body.

Sakura and Hinata were both confused by the even request, and protests did not let themselves waited for long. "She's way too weak for a conversation right now, Naruto!" Sakura argued. "Even you could understand that much and wait. I don't think there's something that urgent for _you_ to discuss with her!"

" It may have been just an illusion due to my state, but didn't you tell yourself, _Hanabi is stronger than you think_, Hinata?" Hanabi ignored Sakura and turned to her sister instead.

This direct question caught Hinata by surprise. She and Hanabi just stared at each other for a while. Whatever signals or connections this staring could have been conducting for the sisters, the other two couldn't have access to that knowledge.

"Alright," Hinata replied after a while, breaking the eye contact. "We'll let them talk," she spoke to Sakura.

"But…" Sakura couldn't simply agree with such a thing, without even understanding what was going on.

Hinata couldn't understand it, either, actually. But she followed her instincts and walked out the room. Sakura could do nothing but follow Hinata, in the end, and see what was going to happen.

* * *

_Uzumaki Naruto tends to say a lot of things. And people tend to believe him. He can talk about solving things, but he cannot really solve them. After all, he's a politician, _was what she had told to Neji that day. Such brave words coming from someone who could not do anything of her own. Who had no idea how to take drastic decisions of her own.

"First, am I talking to the Hokage or to Uzumaki Naruto?" she asked from the bed.

"Which of them do you need to talk to?"

"Both."

"At the same time?"

"Preferably separated."

"Good. Which of them do we start with?"

"The Hokage."

* * *

**A/N:** _Again, I put in the chapter less than originally planned, but, even though everything is already settled in the story, I put them down in Word in the way they come to me. A rather fast chapter. Well, I have some free time... that's supposed to be spent studying, but you know what they say: don't let the things you like to do at the mercy of the things you have to do - or something like that._


	31. Something in the way

She couldn't help but feel a tremour, the day she's been introduced to the _business outside the village_. It was something she could not undestand in it at the time - understand the reason she was actually afraid. But she got to. She got to see it was simply something she had no power over. She had no power, and no influence, and no right to have an opinion. Not that she was scared of anything. But she was confused. She did not know which was good to be done, so that she continued what she was told to do.

She did not see it hanging right over the spot where she was sitting while her grandfather still lived, so that the weight suddenly falling on her shoulders right after had been too much of a surprise, leaving her with the characteristic vexed state, unable to take a decision, or too confused to do so.

Because, yes, it caught her unprepared. Could he have told her this was in the schemes? Yes, he could. But had he? No. She had no idea what was going on. She kept passing them information, as she was told to, long before finding out about the schemes going around with the tricky poison. He only did as much as to leave a letter, stating that his death was 'part of the _plan_', that she had to continue just with it.

And, the worst part of it, she had no other choice but do everything alone, count on her own powers and thinking. She knew it was nothing to share with his father and anyone else.

And the thing that made her feel mostly uneasy was just that - the obvious fact that her father was not included in these plans. The thing that it did not make sense. That it was something obvious, the fact that she'd only get to really take the lead when her father would die, that she would not have the freedom to _continue with it_, whether if she wanted it or not. And there was a little voice inside her head saying she did not really want to continue this.

When the date of her naming was set and there was nothing to happen for it to ever be delayed, the first thing she did was to cut her last bond that kept her feeling not all alone - told Konohamaru it was better if they never met again. Easy to say, but not so easy in practice. Because she had left things slip from her hands. Because she allowed herself to think and dream too far. And, without it to ever be mentioned in words, they thought of more than friendship towards each other.

And just when she realized it was impossible, she had to admit it, to him and to herself. She told him to stay away from her, because she was in love with him.

* * *

As things advanced, as the date of her naming approached, Hanabi became more and more detached from anything and anyone. Because she felt something was not right, something more was going to happen. Things did not fall into place correctly. And something would be done for things to go properly. And she was afraid of whatever this _something_ could be.

And then, earlier than she expected the 'something', _something_ happened. She was targeted. She was targeted to be killed. By the _allies_. Those who caused this damned uneaasiness and madness in her head. But worse than being killed happened - she was saved. And in order to be savved in time, her father was the one to take the hit. And she realized it was worse than she being betrayed along the way - she had just been used. As another part of the plan. That was the missing piece. _He_ had been expected to protect any of his daughters; her father was not counted in _the plans_.

With nothing standing in her way anymore, she was actually feeling like imprisoned.

On top of it, guilt crept in. It was not her fault. She had had no idea. But then again... if she could not be called 'guilty' of anything, didn't it meant that she was just something along a weapon thrown into the ocean - used, but hidden.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was the new Hokage - she did not attend that inauguration.

With this new triumph, the _allies_ were maddened. And of course she was caught in between. But could she step out of this...? She couldn't just get away and leave them do what they meant to do. And then again... what to do against it? And was it good for her to do anything against it?

She could not trust anyone anymore. A seal was put on people on the family. With the curse on her, as a leader, the curse passed to the rest, too. She could not trust anyone, but same did it work for all the others, too. This was all insane, the crazy cautiousness, but nothing could make her feel safe again. And the pitfall was getting deeper. And she cursed anyone for not being able to get what was going on, have her busted, because she did not have the power to get out of this vicious circle...

Sometime along the lines, she heard of Konohamaru - left out of Konoha. Being in Konoha did not mean seeing him, but knowing him further than that still hurt...

* * *

That day started out like any other. Another day full of frustration and numbness. It was long since she even passed the door of the house. She never went outside, lately.

A thing unlike any day before, though, she walked to the training hall instead of her office, that morning. She was thoughtful. Same as the times before her father was killed, she had that feeling -_ something_ was going to happen; _something_ had to happen.

And soon she walked in.

"So how comes you visit?" Hanabi asked, facing Hinata. And she knew exactly what was the visit all about.

"Neji is in the hospital."

"How unfortunate. Troubles in a mission?" Her eyes were focused. Same as Hinata's.

"No. Well, details would take much time. But it all started like an hour ago. When Nori died. Do you know Nori? He was neither in a mission."

Yes, _that_ was the reason of the visit. So that would be the day - relieved of all the madness or all into it she would end.

* * *

"So this is supposed to be an official declaration of the events that took place more than two years ago?" Naruto asked, when the young woman paused, waiting for him to react somehow.

She nodded bluntly.

"And why are you making this kind of declarations _now_?" he asked again, and Hanabi could see it now - that clear line they talked about, between Uzumaki Naruto and the Hokage of Konohagakure.

"Because I want you to understand the background on which this new event takes place - the Hyuuga clan is perfectly strict in their rules," Hanabi explained. "Can I have Naruto into place now?"

"Listening," the young man nodded, being really curious of where this could lead to.

"You know, even though we have our inside rules, when something more... abnormal occurs, we do discuss it with the Hokage in charge. The Leader of the family has the duty to forward a report to the Hokage - possible causes and possible consequences. The Hokage may have a decisive word in the matter if his opinion is well justified - however, his opinion is always considered very important.

"When my father killed the Kumo ninja, the Hokage was immediately contacted, as a member of the Main family (and heir), my father, was surely to become threatened. Although the Council had the last word on Hizashi's sacrifice, the Third Hokage was the one to conduct treaties with Kumo and advice the Leader, even before any discussion to take place within the family.

"This is not an internationa problem, Noboru's, but it's still the Main family in the game, so procedures are required, because it invloves the abnormal - the life of an infant. The seal, at this age, would most probably bring him death, and the possible death of an infant cannot be decided just like that."

"I did not recieve anything like this yet...," Naruto pointed out, frowning.

"Now, I can guess already that Hinata would normally delay to forward this report. First, to win some time. Secondly, she is aware that you will be absolutely against it - outburst just at the thought of such. But you don't have reasonable motives to prove your side - the the fact that _he's only a child_ won't help to be said; this is the shinobi world, rather cruel. So you'd also get in trouble yourself, starting this conflict - Hinata wouldn't want this either.

"The thing is, Hinata...," and she stopped for a moment, not knowing how to tell it through. She looked up at him, after several minutes of staring down. And it struck her - the change. For how much she had talked to the Hokage, he had managed to keep an impersonal tone and a stern looking face. But just the simple mention of Hinata awokened Uzumaki Naruto completely, his face alert, his fingers slightly fidgeting. Maybe it all could become that simple...

"What do you feel for Hinata?" she asked Naruto directly, looking him straight in the eyes.

He could have laughed it off. But, instead, his eyes widened, his face cautious. Hanabi smiled - tha's all she needed to know.

"She loves you, too - I'm sure she did not tell you that, did she?"

His eyes lightened with a childish joy for the moment, before his whole face to build a defensive barrier, cautiously. But his inability to control his emotions and reactions - dating from his childhood days - had yet to be corrected perfectly.

Habani had already seen what was to be seen. "But I guess you do realize she has the same problem as I had, right? But that she refuses to arrange me a marriage, to solve the problem, while I would simply refuse letting her in an arranged marriage for my sake, either - despite our misunderstandings, none of us would take that step."

"What has this to do with Noboru?" he asked sternly. By now she knew very well that thoughts - and many of them - were fighting inside his mind, as he was annihilating the impulse to speak them up.

"You know, they say I shouldn't get into anything risky for weeks, if I want full recovery. Else, I might die," she said as cold-blooded and indifferent as possible. "Many things can happen in a few weeks. Even in the following week, really," she continued talking nonchalantly, her voice drained of any emotion. "A week would be best, because, you know, the family will be expecting an answer..."

"Did they give you too many pills?" he asked roughly. His contradicting expression said clearly that he understood pretty well what she had in mind - so those wheels inside did work good when he wanted them to.

"But I am fully aware of what I'm saying, really," she argumented in a casual way, as if talking about the weather. "Else, you could as well kill both me and Hinata for no aparent reason," Hanabi added ironically. "Understand, there is no other way!" she started becoming imaptient - he was clearly totally against it.

"It's...," she was about to talk again, but he raised his hand, cutting the speech.

"Now, don't stress yourself Hanabi - we don't want an accident to happen," he said, with a thin line for lips.

"Only. way," she repeated calmly, holding it in.

"We'll see," he walked out with a salute.

* * *

Hanabi knew what she'd done as soon as the door closed.

* * *

Of course that, as he walked out, all eyes were on him, widened with curiousity. He looked at each of them, in part.

Sakura only gave him a look, analyzed his expression and nodded, before walking away with only, "I'll just go do my end of shift checkings now." Naruto nodded back as she turned, glad his old teammate could understand that easily that he could not yet explain her a thing.

Then he turned to Konohamaru, stating simply, with no other additional explanation, "Be in my office tomorrow, Konohamaru - I'll send someone after you. But, for now, back to your compartment. You better be healed completely by the next day." He patted his shoulder and Konohamaru gave him a questionable look, looking for a hidden meaning of all this. But he could see none. Afraid of doing a mistake by trying to find anything more, Konohamaru did walk away, with a long gaze, back to the door he had been guarding.

As he saw him leaving, Naruto remembered a silly scene from their earlier years:

_"I'm busy as hell, Konohamaru, but what about you? What's your excuse for being single?"_

_"Waiting for YOU to find a girl, Naruto."_

_"Eh?"_

_"We are much the same but you are the luckier. I'm waiting for you to find the perfect one, hoping she has a sister."_

_That turned out ironically_, Naruto thought now with a bitter smile.

Then, turning to Neji, "You should go home, too, now, Neji. There are other problems ahead of us that will require our energy. But don't worry - we're all in it," Naruto assured him. Neji probably had other things to add, but he must have realized there was, indeed, nothing _he_ could do at the moment. That he had to wait and hope, even if it burned every inch of him. Obviously, he was supposed to be there no longer. Mechanically, he nodded and turned to leave.

And then, looking all tired, totally unlike around an hour ago, when she had entered Sakura's office, he turned to face her. " ..._more about duty than about privilege_," he repeated earlier's words as explanation for his rather miserable state.

There were some moments of silence, but it did not feel uncomfortable at all somehow. They were both tired. Both thoughtful. Both too wired. And the hospital was silent itself.

"Hinata?"

"Hm?"

"Konohamaru is in love with Hanabi..."

Her eyes looked up at him, widened. It was nothing of what she'd ever expected to hear. At first, it surprised her. But then... 1 plus 1 makes 2. Konohamaru's reaction at seeing her. What was there left to surprise, when everything was so complicated and unexpected already? She did not want to think, really... She... And, why, she could just arrange that marriage and let her sister be happy, damn it! But then what to do about...?

"And we have a child dying...," he added with a sigh.

Indeed, not like she could forget about that...

"Such tangled situations in this family of mine...," she sighed herself, and smiled weakly. Everything seemed so 'with no way out', she might as well laugh at all the misfortune altogether. She felt like laughing and she felt like crying. And she did not know what to do altogether...

"Hinata..."

"H-hm?" Her voice was trembling, having given up to the second option - crying.

"Would you marry me?"

A sob remained trapped in her throat and threatened to choke her. She looked up at him in a collected puzzlement. What was he saying? "What?" she spoke her only present thought in the moment.

"You know, speaking with Konohamaru and Hanabi today... I could see how, for them, there was a constant hopelessness and... their happiness was pushed down, even if trying hard to make it stay up... while I was here... and you were here... and I did not give it a thought, did not even try... did not even realize..."

"This is not possible...," she shook her head slowly, weakly and repetitively, looking up at him, uneasy. And she could not really swallow it in yet. Breathing was hard and complicated, troubled by hard beats of her heart. Why would such words, said just like he had said them, in a voice of his she had never heard before, and with that something in his eyes she had only seen the other night, why would those words come just now? Why would it have to make it for her more regretful to carry on with choices she did not really make herself?

"But I said 'would' - if it _were_ possible," he caught her by the shoulders, emphasizing those words for reasons she could not understand. Her body weakened gradually and she avoided to look him in the eyes.

"It's _not_!" she snapped, crying.

"But...," he refused to let it that way, remaining all calm.

"Yes!," she did not let him finish. "but I can't," she added immediately, "And she can't... This can't...," she was saying, constantly shaking her head.

"Hanabi told me about how rules work in your family. She won't accept a sacrifice from you - you won't accept ir from her," she spoke, his hands moving up from her shoulders to cup her cheeks - they started burning under the touch - raising her head to make her look up at him, "Hinata, do yuo trust me?" Naruto suddenly asked.

"What does it have to do with...?"

"Do you?"

"Of course I do!" she cried, started to get frustrated and annoyed.

And it just dawned on her that they were in a hospital, that people could pass by anytime now. She took a look around, nervously, but the place was deserted - it was still too early. But, soon enough, the movement would start, visits would be made, by medics, relatives or others. Many would come and go - the place would be crowded and noisy.

Naruto understood that, too. "Yes, we can't stay here," he said, his hands leaving her face, not fast, but slowly, like a caress.

She frowned with the sudden realize, "You have something in mind about it," she said all of a sudden, bewildered.

He smiled at that, widely and brightly, saying, "I never make empty promises." She was confused until she remembered it - last night, he had said...

"_Not letting go_," he repeated the words today.

"You two," they both turned to see Shizune coming their way - seemed like Sakura's shift was over. "I heard about Hanabi. What's been going on?"

"Ah, long story... We'll tell you about it later," Naruto replied casually. "I need to be at the office. Hinata, you have a report to bring on Noboru's situation, right?"

"Yes, actually...," she replied with a questionable look. What was he...?

"Noboru? What's wrong with...?"

"Told you it's a long story, Shizune," Naruto said impatiently, but not rudely, just being his usual self.

Hinata did not even have the time to think about what she was supposed to do when she felt herself being gently pushed ahead by Naruto. "So you do trust me, then?" he said in a low voice as they crossed the hall.

Not finding the voice to speak anymore, she just nodded, hoping he'd see it. He did.

* * *

Finally back in his office, Naruto took a scroll, wrote a few things inside, signed it, sealed it and, just at the right time, Sai was at the window.

"Sorry for waking you up so early," Naruto told him for greeting, not looking up from the seal he was just finishing.

"Emergencies never came too early - this sounded like an emergency," Sai replied.

"It is," Naruto stood up, handing Sai the scroll. "You should get there unnoticed."

"Count on me - _ANBU_ never fail at this."

"And fast."

"_I_ never fail at any."

* * *

**A/N: **_Ah, there were many parts of this I did not like... but what to do about it?_

_Well, guy, I don't usually advertise and stuff, but it would mean much if you'd check 'And then the sun set' - if you're a NaruHina fan and would be interesting in reading some more... No, nothing to do with this story - it's a whole new perspective, actually._

_And we're closer to the end of this. So much closer..._


	32. At the Throw of a Dice

The bags under his eyes were claiming for his eyelids to meet, but the day was long and he had a lot of things to be done.

"Hokage-sama...," a figure peeked through the half-open door.

"Hai?" Naruto inquired, visibly holding it in - tiredness made him irritable.

"It's Hyu-..."

Naruto interrupted him with a sigh, "You've had this job for long, yet, even after having to deal with ones like Sasuke so many times, you do not understand there's this group of people who can just get inside," he said calmly, but his present irritability was visible.

The younger man just saluted, sensing the bad mood he better stood away from, and let the young woman in, closing the door behind him.

"If you don't get to sleep soon, your subordinates might get to the point of crucifying you," she said, stepping closer.

"No chance. Lack of sleep also makes me aggressive - what chance would they have?" he stretched a bit and sat up.

"My report, Hokage-sama," Hinata slipped the file on the desk. "Dated today afternoon, just as you asked," she added. "So?" she leaned over the desk, all curious.

"So?" he copied her gesture with a smirk.

"So what's it all about?" she asked impatiently, almost stuttering the words, like in the good old days, and tilted her head to the side.

With her face so close to his, there were surely many other things he could think of, besides telling stories and giving explanations. Bowing his head a bit more, he caught her lips in his, doing what the rushing morning had not given him the opportunity to do.

At first surprised, a bit shy she was caught in the fire, getting as close as the desk between them permitted her to, and, eventually, prompting her knees on it, her arms anchoring around his neck. Her long, thin fingers rose up his neck and into his hair - despite the spiky look, it was really soft at touch. The one to eventually break the kiss was Naruto, when Hinata, up on the desk, got even closer - too close to handle.

He laughed and she blushed badly. She couldn't believe that she had actually jumped on that desk and couldn't figure out an non-awkward way of getting down. Fortunately, he was the one to take her up and put her with her feet back on the ground.

Composing herself, merely looking down, she started, "About that report, you were saying..."

Snorting, he replied, "Oh, but I was saying nothing about that report."

"But you were about to," she assured him, finally looking up. His eyes were bright, their color melted, making him look like a lovely child.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing relevant about this report," he insisted.

"Then why did I write it?"

Because you had to - are you the Head of that family or what?"

"Basically, I wrote it for nothing?"

"No, you wrote it because you _had to_," he repeated, his expression revealing nothing.

This all made her more confused about what it could have been that he had in mind.

"And why is the report irrelevant?" she took another approach.

"Because so it will be when I'm getting to it."

"When are you getting to it?"

"When I'm back." Well, that sounded like something...

"Back from where?"

"From a meeting I'll be announced about just later today."

She waited a few moments, agzing, but he added nothing more about it.

"And I won't find out," she concluded with a shake of her head.

"You will - when _I_ find out."

"All-right," she nodded with a thoughtful look and, giving him one more little kiss, she rushed towards the door.

"But where are you running?" he asked with a grin.

"Preparing a little luggage." At his questionable look, she added, "If the Hokage can't do paperwork for a longer period of time, then he must be out of the village. And if I'm supposed to find out, let me guess my presence will be requested."

He snorted, impressed, crossing his arms as he replied, "Kami, you're smart."

"Hai, I am," she smiled back. Next moment, she was out the door.

* * *

She felt her whole body numb, but it was a sweet kind of numbness. The kind of numbness you feel on a Sunday morning, waking up later than usual, with a warm bed and the chance to stay longer in there.

But it was no Sunday. She was not in her bed. And the icy-white surroundings did not make it feel anyhow warm. But, somehow, it did not really matter. She had not had such a peaceful sleep for too long.

Hanabi felt an urge to sit up and make something with that energy, now regained, but the imposibility for that to happen struck her just when she felt herself imobilized by all the tubes stuck into her pale skin.

"Slowly, now, I promised you'll do nothing crazy," a warm hand reached for hers - she had been unconsciously trying to take off the tubes. The hand kept holding hers afterwards and she looked up to see his blurry figure, sitting on a chair, his upper side leaned towards her.

She blinked severaly, trying to make the fog go away, but it seemed to be glued on her eyes.

"Yes, yes, you died and I'm an angel," he joked in his usual impatient tone, as she continued to remain speechless.

"That's not funny, Konohamaru," she replied, but smiled anyways. A warm sensation ran up her chest and she couldn't really concentrate right then on the bad sides of the story.

"After all the horror from before, everything else is funny," he took a little hand of hers in both of his and kissed it, and then pressed it against his cheek. His face took a worrisome look, his eyebrows moved closer to each other, digging a little line, deep line between them, his eyes, shiny, his mouth, stern. "I was just at the door when it happened," he said, "- heard you chocking...," he shook his head at the memory.

The corners of her lips turned downwards again as the realization that things were not fine at all came back, hitting agresively. Digging her other hand in the white sheets, she tried lifting herself a bit, but it turned out that her body wasn't as maleable as it had seemed.

Seeing Hanabi's struggle, Konohamaru reached out his arms and, catching her gently by the waist, helped her in a sitting position.

"Sakura-san said you've been staying too much in this bed, mostly motionless - you need to get up and walk, in order to gain back your body's strenght," he explained, warming her both frozen hands between his.

"Sakura-san is still here?" she asked, confused.

"_Again_ here," he smiled again. "You've been sleeping for most of the day - it's almost 8 pm. You were drugged - Sakura-san told Shizune-san to let you on her hands only; just give you something to sleep, because rest is what you needed most."

She listened to him silently and then snorted, saying, "I haven't slept for such a long time since I were a baby."

"What happened last last?" he asked then, more seriously.

""You mean, the baby?" She sobered. He nodded. "Oh, it's so stupid... I lost my mind - shouted at that little child. And he got scared and had no idea he... Oh, but he will be such a strong one when he gets older..." And then she recalled that 'gettign older' could not be so certain for that boy.

"He'll be alright," Konohamaru assured her as her face went worrisome, her eyes teary.

"No, no... You don't know what the seal could mean for a one year old one. He is strong, but... it could be useless. Konohamaru, this seal connects to areas of the brain! At his age, the brain is still developing. With areas of the brain being sealed... if he lives, he'll get undeveloped thinking instead - and he _could be_ a genius! Can you understand now how grave things are?"

Konohamaru listened to her carefully. From the way she talked, Hanabi seemed to already label herself as guilty for murder. Her hands were trembling, her voice was shaking, though she managed to maintain her speech cursive. He felt useless in fron of her distress. Leaving his chair, he leaned closer, putting one arm around her, the hand dug in her hair, the other hand still holding hers.

She let her head rest on his chest. There was something fresh about his scent. It felt like standing in the cool air of the mountains - it felt liberating.

"The only sure thing is 'no seal' for now," he concluded, frowning.

"Yes," she replied weakly.

"Naruto and your sister both know this, don't they?" he said then.

"Yes... What are you...?" she raised her head a bit, to see his expression - he was thoughtful.

"They're up to something," Konohamaru replied with a knowing nod, his expression the same.

"Did he talk to her after walking out of this room?"

He looked down at her, too, curious. "I think so. Naruto sent us all away with... instructions. And they two were surely the last ones remaining."

"Instructions?" she became curious, too.

"Well, for example, _I_ have to be in his office tomorrow morning - found it strange for him to be so exact; no other details, though. And...," he felt he needed to add that, "he knows about us. Sakura, too - she was there when I told him; that's how I managed to make her let me in here."

She did not even look surprised or worried by the news. Just focused. "So... Naruto has all the secrets in his hands right now. What could this unpredictable guy be planning?"

* * *

"Mission accomplished."

Naruto raised his head from his papers to see Sai, sitting just before him - must had gotten in through the window. Good.

He rose his hand to receive the sealed envelope wich Sai was handing. "You're free," he told the pale ninja and, with a bow of his head, the young man disappeared from his sigh.

Naruto recognized the writing as Gaara's. The message said simply, "Very clever". He smiled and burned it, destroying the evidence. Just as the last inch of paper was turning to ashes, the door of the office swung open, "Hokage-sama, a message from Sand - sent with their fastest messenger."


	33. Written in black ink

Konohamaru was quite disappointed to find Naruto's office so crowded. A young man was lying on the floor, in the middle of the office, legs crossed, just sorting out papers. From the amount of time he was spending before deciding where to place them, Konohamaru guessed the man was reading each of the sheets for more than once. Two older men, each holding large acts, where on both sides of the desk, each of them talking to Naruto about one different matter. Then, there were also, others, two women and three men around the office, running their fingers with carry through stacks of documents on the many shelves.

If Naruto had some secret plans, it seemed that they were merely lacking the secrecy. Or had his friend been so busy that this scheduled meeting slipped his mind? But just as his presence was announced, Naruto lifted his gaze, clear expectancy in his eyes. So he was, after all, waited.

"Konohamaru, come closer. I'm sorry I couldn't let you rest longer. Shizune said you should have stayed at least one more day in the hospital, but I really needed someone trustworthy right now." The first thing Konohamaru noticed was Naruto's tendency to talk slowly - that was nothing like him. It was like he was trying to win some time. "You see, I need someone to..."

"I'm sorry for being a little late. The messenger simply did not dare to come in my room and wake me up, but, thankfully, I did wake up early today," Hinata said as she came in. She had seemed prepared, unlike him, for the crowd inside the office and did not show a trace of surprise.

"Hokage-sama," one of the men around the desk spoke stiffly, "people are not too enthusiast about your choice in terms of replacement."

"I won't be gone for a year," Naruto got back to his usual impatient tone this time, giving the impression that it was not the first time that subject was opened. "Besides, Sasuke will only act as Hokage in case of emergency. It's just a precaution for the good of the village - the war outside is not ended. I'm not naming him full-time Hokage, dattebayo. Basically, he's in charge to be the first to give his life, if necessary, so stop complaining."

Despite his never-disappearing hastiness, Konohamaru had rarely seen Naruto lose his diplomacy, these days. Clearly, there were much more important things going on inside his mind, so the struggle to keep his patience was last on the list.

"Hinata, come here. You, too, Konohamaru," he added hastily, starting to ignore anything coming from anyone else in the room.

So Hinata would also be there. But then, all the others would be there, too. Konohamaru still wondered why wouldn't Naruto just send the others out for a while. Especially when the common matter of his and Hinata's had to be Hanabi. Whatever it was about Hanabi, these people had no right to hear, Konohamaru couldn't help but burst internally.

"So, Hinata, you know that Hanabi's situation was still to be discussed," Naruto first turned to the girl. Sweat-drops started forming on Konohamaru's forehead and his face almost showed awareness. But he realized it in time that he had to hide such things, especially until he found out why he had been brought there.

"Back then, the case remained to be judged in Suna, as Suna had been chosen to be the most trustworthy and neutral of all the allies. A... recent confession of Hanabi concerning our... old issue was sent. They concluded that it is the time to take a decision in the matter, this declaration being all they ever needed. Now, I understand Hanabi is in no state to travel. And that it should take longer for her to recover completely, but there's no use in wasting time."

"Then I suppose I am going to travel instead, as being both her closest relative and my family's representative," Hinata replied calmly.

"Just what I had in mind," Naruto nodded. "And, Konohamaru," he looked once more to him, "The reason I called for you... From obvious reasons, it was emphasized that Hyuuga Hanabi should not be guarded by clan members. I put you in charge. You need to keep your eyes on her for as long as I'll be gone."

"But, Sir, shouldn't there be let more guards?" one of the present men argued and Naruto even decided to not ignore this one.

"She is too weak to do anything dangerous. And there's no need to make too much fuss and attract too much attention to the matter. Yes, one trustworthy guard is just fine. But, just in case...," he said with a thoughtful look and, the next moment, took out a blank sheet of paper and signed it at the bottom. "...have this." He handed the paper to Konohamaru in the astonished looks from all around. Even Konohamaru took the paper a bit unsure and caught off guard. He surely did not expect something like that.

"But... Hokage-sama, that's...," one of the present men spoke, bewildered.

"...a blank order, yes." Naruto said simply, as if it was not much of a big deal. But then he spoke to Konohamaru in a more serious tone, accentuating his every work."In case anything spectacular happens, in case _you find it truly required_, use this _for any means you find necessary_. There's _one clear thing_ to remember: whatever happens, Hanabi must be in the village when I'm back. And, of course, it should not be necessary for me to mention - Hanabi won't get in contact with anyone else in the village but you but you. I don't need to mention she can't receive any letters from out the village she is in, right? And I hope you memorized _every single word_ I just said." He looked Konohamaru right in the eyes as he talked, very seriously. Naruto had never talked to him with such an expression and such a voice. It kind of startled him, but he remained focused all throughout it, careful to not miss a thing. "Well, but if you happen to forget anything, there were quite a lot of people here who could remind you? Look at how curiously they're listening," Naruto suddenly lost his seriousness and laughed, hi expression and pose becoming all joyful and careless all of a sudden. "Konohamaru, if you happen to fail this mission, there are plenty of witnesses here to prove it, ne?" Naruto joked and got up with a wide smile still wide on his face. But something told Konohamaru that it was no joke and the office being crowded was no happening - he would analyse and re-analyse Naruto's words, later.

"Hokage-sama, this is classified as 'urgent'," the man sorting papers on the floor said, raising a pretty thick report.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him, looking like having no clue in the matter. "Urgent? But I solved anything 'urgent' yesterday afternoon," he said, looking a bit of intrigued, but also irritated.

"This was registered at 6 last evening - after the Hokage's working schedule," the man explained.

"Well, postpone it," Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm taking no paperwork with me."

"But it is '_urgent_'," the man emphasized once again.

"Send the official in the matter a letter of apology, explaining the impossibility of an earlier answer in the present situation and that it will be taken care of as soon as I am back," Naruto explained, annoyed and ironical, like made for a little young child.

The man, intimidated, lowered his head at ,mumbling almost incoherently, "It's... from... Hinata-sama... right here," he pointed weakly to the young woman.

"Oh, I guess I made my point, then," he snorted and scratched the back of his head, turning to Hinata with a smile. "Don't send anything, then," he then turned again to the man on the floor.

"But you should still address a formal letter to Hyuuga Hisao instead," Hinata came in between. "I doubt I'll have the necessary time to clear these things for him myself, given the circumstances," she told the man with reports in a soft, diplomatic voice - there was no way he could say 'no' to that, not even if the Hokage said otherwise...

Naruto turned to Hinata to hear that and then turned to the young man again, "...or send it, then."

"Nar... Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, Konohamaru?" He turned and gave his friend a look that said, 'Hokage-sama my ass...'.

"When does my mission begins and how much will it last?" he asked sternly, holding in the urge to laugh at Naruto's reaction.

"Right now. And we'll be gone for two weeks - the most. Hanabi will stay for around three days more in the hospital - I made your presence known, there. After that, escort her to her house, most discreetly and guard her there. Anything else you need to know?"

"No - everything's clear," Konohamaru nodded and left the room.

"Konohamaru," Hinata called after him.

"Yes?"

"Wait for me - I'll visit my sister before leaving," she walked after him.

"We're leaving in half an hour," Naruto told her.

"I'll go quickly and meet you at the gates, then," she replied. And she and Konohamaru walked out, the second still thoughtful and wondering if he could dare and ask Hinata if she had idea of what was going on.

* * *

They walked to the hospital in absolute silence. Looking at her, he could see the woman was quite in a good mood. He was one of the few people who knew very well what was going on in the Hyuuga family at the moment. About Noboru. And now Hanabi's case was going to be judged... Wouldn't she be worried?

Well, _he_ was. Because he still couldn't understand this all. And he felt very stupid and useless for this. He tucked his hands in his pockets. His left hand came in contact with something he had momentary forgotten about - the blank order. ...there had to be a reason for that one.

Naruto and Konohamaru were a lot alike, but not really. Konohamaru had never been as oblivious as Naruto in ome situation, but he neither had Naruto's capacity of understand in others. Now he tried to arrange the puzzle pieces in his mind, to see the big picture. After no decision to be taken for so long, they'd finally decided to get back on Hanabi's case. Suspect. And what 'recent declaration'? Well, Hanabi did talk with Naruto... yesterday. That happened just yesterday, though. But then again, there was not much to be thought about when it came to the official side of it, because, as Hanabi had pointed out the other day, Naruto was up to something. And he had just given aKonohamaru the instructions for his part in this something. He only had to figure out exactly what he was supposed to do.

"Hinata-san?" he broke the silence just as they were approaching Hanabi's door.

"Yes?"

"You did know you were going to leave today, didn't you?"

She looked at him shortly and, as she opened the door, nodded with a smile.

"Good morning, Hanabi," she greeted her sister. "I'm glad you're awake."

Hanabi was reading a book when they entered. She looked surprised to see the two together, but didn't say a thing about it. She was waiting for them to talk first.

"I cannot stay long. I need to get home to pick up my backpack and be at the gates quickly." At Hanabi's questionable look, she added, "Konohamaru will tell you some details about it. And... concerning what you were told, Konohamaru, this is the last detail." She handed Hanabi a little box as she said that.

Hanabi still couldn't guess what was going on, but she was too curious to wait for Hinata to leave until opening the box. As Hinata saw that and did not say a thing against it, she proceeded with it and looked inside. After doing so, she looked back up at Hinata, her eyes wide.

"What about you?" Hanabi asked.

"Oh, leave that to the two of us," Hinata replied and using 'the two of us' instead of 'me' seemed to have made it clear for Hanabi.


End file.
